Ephemeral Affection
by aimeeshii
Summary: Kyouya thought the most trouble he would have in his life would be his unknown brother coming to live with him again. When he develops an attraction to someone on the internet, life starts to get complicated. D18 AU INCEST
1. Confessions

**Warnings: **this story will contain sexual content.**  
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_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明_****

Chapter one—Confessions

The appearances of families weren't something I usually wasted my thoughts into. I just regarded it as usual—their appearances ranged from identical, minor differences and sometimes even looking as though they were picked up from the curb somewhere around the city due to the vast difference. When I'd glanced in the mirror, I saw something akin to the believed appearance of a spirit. It was natural, after all, so I'd simply shrugged it off of my shoulders before continuing on with my life. My parents were different in looks, too. My father had a few of my features, namely the fluffy hair and harsh shape of our eyes. He wasn't a brunet like I was, instead possessed a bright mop of blond hair that hurt my eyes if I looked too long at it. His irides were a shade of cerulean, too. I'd always questioned whether or not we were related, but as soon as I stole a glance at his features, I was reassured. There was no way I was randomly thrown into a family if I bared a resemblance to at least one of the members.

My mother, on the other hand, was completely different. They were both blondes, but hers was richer, the tresses looking almost red when they were damp, or wet from water. I hadn't inherited her colour irides either, as they were magenta.

There weren't any photo albums throughout the house, for a reason that was never answered, so I didn't know whether or not my appearance was similar to other blood relatives.

When I'd asked if I could see a picture of family members, or even some from when I was in my younger years, my parents had stared me down with an expression I couldn't identify. I remembered that I had blinked in shock before voicing my question again, immediately becoming disappointed when I received no answer. It was definitely odd, I knew that for sure.

"Mother," I called to the woman inside of the kitchen. She'd called me down a few moments ago, saying there was something important that I needed to know. My curiosity had immediately been piqued so I wandered down the stairs a few seconds after I'd processed her call.

My feet had echoed through the hallway as I walked across the floor, even more so when I stepped inside the too white kitchen. The tiles inside were almost blinding, especially due to the contrast between the black marble surfaces and the black cupboards. It was an odd colour scheme, to say the least, but most of the house consisted of it. The other splashes of colours throughout the whole house were a few blues and even a purple tone inside my own room. They were definitely fond of monotone shades; the small paintings that were placed on random walls proved that, too.

"Kyouya." She sighed. "I have something to tell you."

Unintentionally, my eyebrow arched. I was interested, that was for sure, but the fact that she was taking so long to get to the point was making me slowly tap my foot in impatience. For the sixteen years of my life, my mother had never called me down simply to tell me that there was something I needed to know. The normal situation in my family would be to pass a note or a letter with the information placed inside of it.

Barely ever did we talk face to face, letting our feelings come out in the open. That seemed more like a herbivoric move, if I was being honest. I wasn't comfortable enough with my own parents to let my expression be completely clean. I always toned them down; if I was feeling happy, a small smirk would spread across my lips and I'd laugh on the very rare occasion. It was normal in my eyes. I didn't like the look of others merely letting their emotions become spread across their faces. It made them appear vulnerable, even more so when there were a large group of individuals all experiencing them.

"Your father and I haven't exactly been truthful."

_Excuse me? _I thought incredulously. My eyebrow quickly lost its posture, falling down with the other as a frown was spread across my face. My expression surely changed to one of disapproval, even more so when I saw my mother grimace a small amount. She was an odd woman; on some days, she would be aloof whereas on others, much like that day, her emotions would be in full swing. It was almost as though she was somewhat bipolar.

"It's not as though we intended to lie to you, though," she said softly.

If she had used that tone of voice to seem comforting, it really wasn't working. If anything it was making me more annoyed. I crossed my arms over my chest in annoyance, waiting for her to get on with whatever she had to say. The thoughts coming through my head were almost incoherent, but I knew one; _I would have rather gotten this in a letter. _

"Your father's out of town, you know that," she pointed out, "but it's not for business."

_Oh? _That was definitely the first I'd heard of such a thing. I'd assumed he'd gone away for work like he'd usually done. If this time was a lie, I was wondering whether or not the others were too.

My eyes narrowed up at her—she was a tall woman after all, I only came up to her shoulder—before I chewed on my bottom lip in uncertainty. I didn't like the feeling of being lied to, even more so when it was admitted to my face. I would've _definitely _liked to have received such information in a letter instead. I could've taken my time reading through the sentences instead of having the feeling of dread flow through my body.

"Well," she started before stopping to awkwardly cough in her hand. She'd averted her eyes long ago, choosing to stare at the tiles behind my body instead of directly into my eyes. I didn't know what expression I had on my face, but it was surely making her more uncomfortable.

"Yes?" I pressed.

"Well." She gave herself more time. "You have a brother."

I'd blinked in surprise, hardly believing what I'd heard. I chose the logical reaction, though; simply convincing myself that I was so worried about what she might have came out with that my mind decided to replace her words with jargon. That was definitely the most suitable reaction.

I shook my head quickly before letting my eyes trail back to her face, unintentionally furrowing my eyebrows when I saw her dramatically biting down on her lips. "Pardon?" I asked.

"Kyouya, you're not an only child," she explained.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mother," I sighed. There was no way that I had a brother, if that was really the gender that I'd heard. I would've remembered seeing my mother walking around with a swollen stomach and even being absent for a few days to give birth. There was no way that she would've given up a newborn after only holding him in her arms for a few hours straight. My mother was definitely not that type of person; if she'd started something, namely giving birth to a child, she would've stuck to it for a few years and not given it up for adoption.

She groaned softly whilst placing her hand over her face. "This is harder than I thought."

"Hn?"

"No, really. You have a _brother_, Kyouya," she stressed. It looked as though she was having some sort of a breakdown, clutching dramatically at her face whilst trying to explain something that was clearly not true.

_She's never normally this much of a herbivore. _"No, I don't."

"This is harder if you're talking, Kyouya," she complained.

In response, I leant back against the wall beside me. The hands were removed from her face at some point, now placed beside her sides awkwardly as she still looked off to the side and not directly at my face.

"It wasn't out of choice that he lived away from you. There were some complications."

_This still doesn't sound believable, _I thought dully to myself. There was definitely sorrow present in her voice, but it wasn't enough to convince me. It could've been some sort of a sick joke, after all.

"He's older than you by a year," she explained. That definitely explained why I hadn't heard of him before, but I was still not believing it. There had never been any indications that I'd had a brother before, not even a photo around the house. Although I'd probably only looked inside of a photo album once, I clearly remembered it was only a family photo of three. My father, my mother and myself.

_Maybe she has an imaginary son. _"His name?" I asked.

"Dino," she said. "His name's Dino."

"That's an odd name," I commented without a second thought. It was a big leap from calling one child Dino to calling the next Kyouya. Not possible in any way. _Bullshit. _

"He looks more like your father than me," she explained. "Dino took his last name, too. He only took my hair colour, really. You did know that Hibari is my name, right?"

"I knew that, Mother."

_Dino Cavallone. _It was an odd name, completely different to my own. I hadn't known what my father's last name was but I did know that Hibari came from my mother. I'd never questioned it, simply going along with whatever they said.

"I'm sorry, Kyouya," she apologised softly, "I didn't want to hide it from you."

"And?" I asked coldly. _You still did. _

"He's coming back with your father." Despite trying to dull down my emotions on the outside, there was no doubt that my eyes had widened a considerable amount at her comment. I didn't know how I felt about the secret being kept from me, but the same person who was finally being revealed to suddenly turn up would be more than awkward.

There was no way I would've been comfortable with that, even if my mother attempted to butter me up and make me accept this _Dino_, if it was even his real name.

"Is this a sick joke?" I questioned.

"Joke?" she repeated. "I wouldn't joke about this."

"I'm not buying this," I spat. Acting as though I was a spoilt brat, not a sixteen-year-old, I walked out of the room at a fast pace. I wasn't going to go as far as to stomp my feet down onto the wooden planks, making the sounds echo against the wall and alerting my mother of my mood. I'd rather be quiet, as usual, and not express as much as possible. That was the way into the future for me.

After I'd made my way into my room, I sat down on my single bed covered in a single black duvet, which contrasted with the rest of my white and random splotches of purple room, I'd stretched my arms out above my head for a few moments. It felt as though there was relief oozing out of my pores after I'd finished stretching, completely forgetting what my mother had attempted to convince me of earlier. It was complete bullshit either way—she'd finally hit her midlife crisis.

I'd reached for my laptop after a few moments, powering it up quickly and choosing to search on the internet for something remotely interesting to do. In the past year or so, I'd been interested in gaming. It had led me to talk on a few forums—which were full of complete herbivores, of course—which meant if I was bored, I'd like to search through a few sites to see which victim I could talk to. It was quite amusing seeing online reactions; they were completely different from what would happen in real life. The reactions weren't exaggerated or full of emotions, simply characters and sometimes faces if the individual was incompetent enough. I blinked in shock when I'd loaded one of the pages, which I'd only signed up to yesterday. I hadn't actually got round to playing the game, losing interest almost immediately after it had downloaded.

My eyes were narrowed as I opened the message and even more so when I'd read what was inside.

_Count Blonde—Hey there. You've just started today, right? I did, too. We can work together! It's nice to meet you by the way. _

I chewed on my lips for a few moments, contemplating whether or not to type a reply. I'd settled myself down near the back of my bed so my back was pressed against the wall uncomfortably. Pulling the laptop into my lap, making sure there was a pillow there so I wouldn't heat my lap up too severely, I flexed my fingers for a few seconds before typing my reply.

_Namibird—I'm quitting. Don't bother speaking to me._

Reaching for the novel that was placed by my desk, I pulled the book into my lap, putting the laptop beside me on a low power, and started to search for the chapter I was previously on. My mother still hadn't came upstairs, following me up, and my father was definitely still out of town. _It had to be for business, _I assured myself. I'd lost myself in the novel for what seemed like forever until the sound of an email alert disturbed me. I blinked in surprise before placing the book down and turning towards the screen. Loading the forum up again, I saw that I'd gotten a reply.

_Count Blonde—That's rather rude. I think I'm going to spam you until you're friendly now._

With my eye twitching, I typed my reply quickly.

_Namibird—I'll hunt you down and gut you._

_Let's see how he responds to that, _I mentally snorted. There was no way someone would continue speaking unless they were absolutely lonely and I was the only source of amusement for them. What I'd said wasn't relatively amusing, though, hopefully just threatening. Almost instantly, I got a reply.

_Count Blonde—Go for it. I'll die with a smile._

_Namibird—My gutting skill would probably bring you pleasure._

_Count Blonde—I should hope so._

_Namibird—Good._

The expression upon my face at that moment was incredulous. Even though my responses were awful, much like the other person's too, I found myself becoming quite amused. A small smile was playing upon my lips as I read over the messages, especially the joke that seemed to have been running between us.

_Count Blonde—Do you threaten everyone like this or am I lucky?_

_Namibird—You're the first today, _I typed honestly.

_Count Blonde—I feel special! Thanks, man._

_Namibird—I don't appreciate sarcasm._

For some reason or another, I found myself typing a lot more than usual. On the normal day my average amount of posts would've been at least five or so, but for at least half an hour I'd been typing to this stranger who had some kind of warped personality. _Maybe they're a masochist, _I thought grimly to myself.

_Count Blonde—It's nice to meet you anyway, even if you're rather rude. You're not a pedophile, are you?_

I stared at my screen incredulously as my eyebrows rose.

_Namibird—If I was a pedophile, I would've messaged you first, Herbivore._

_Count Blonde—Touché. _

"Kyouya?" I heard my mother call.

Groaning a small amount, I moved the laptop off of my lap and slowly got off of the bed. She was probably just calling me down to apologise for the random nonsense she was spouting earlier. Hopefully. As I walked down the stairs at a slow pace, I ran a hand through my hair whilst trying to keep my irritation under control. I felt bad for snapping at her earlier, even if she was becoming delusional at that point in time. It wasn't exactly acceptable to be rude to my parents; they'd cared for me and even knew when to leave me the hell alone.

Mother was standing at the bottom of the stairs, staring at my approaching figure. I'd raised an eyebrow in curiosity when her eyes widened a small amount as she looked at me.

"You do believe me, don't you?" she asked.

_I would be worried if I did. _It was more likely for me to believe in fairies rather than believing her nonsense. "Of course not," I scoffed.

"Your father and Dino will be back early tomorrow morning," she confessed. "Please, don't be rude."

_Imaginary son, _I told myself. I wasn't intentionally rude; it just seemed to have most of the time. If I was happy to see someone, even if it was rare, I wasn't going to start running towards them and then jumping onto them. In reality, I'd simply acknowledge them with a small nod of my head or a hum of approval coming from my throat.

"Kyouya, really. I'm not making this up," Mother warned me.

I merely nodded my head quickly, letting her think that I believed the complete and utter bullshit she seemed to have been releasing. She might have been back to her normal self, quiet and under control, when she'd either had some caffeine running through her veins or when father would be back.

He'd somehow always made her calm down just by being in her presence. The blond hair probably drew her eyes towards him and made her attention span become small. That was definitely why. Usually I'd shake my head at their behaviour—my parents seemed to orientate around each other without realizing it. When father was alone, he'd either be reading a book or continuing on with paperwork from his work that he'd left until a later time. Sometimes, he'd be on the phone to a client and hang up as soon as mother had walked through the door. She'd never took notice of such an act though, but when something similar was happening to her she did the exact same thing; hanging up on a friend or a relative, I didn't know, and walking towards him to welcome him home.

Whilst shaking my head as I started walking up the stairs again, there was only one thought going through my head. _Weird people. _

My laptop was turned off to charge up after I'd entered the room, I didn't even check to see if there were any more replies full of bullshit from the random person earlier. Shrugging it off of my shoulders, I placed the electronic device down onto the floor before settling myself down onto my bed. A small smile spread onto my lips as I felt something settle itself down into my hair. There was definitely one thing that I didn't hide my emotions around and it just so happened to be an animal. I raised my hand slowly, trying not to alarm him too severely, and slowly moved my index finger to stroke his small head.

Hibird was a small, fluffy and yellow bird that my parents had given to me for my ninth birthday. I was bemused at first, thinking thoughts along the lines of why they'd even considered that I would have wanted some sort of an animal. It didn't take long for me to grow attached to him though, that was for sure. After only a few weeks, Hibird was settled in my hair or perched upon my shoulder everywhere I went, quietly chirping my name when the time was right. I was surprised at first, of course, when my name was exclaimed in a loud but very high pitched voice. I'd blinked in shock, looking for the source and only meeting his beady black eyes.

_Clever thing, _I thought fondly whilst stroking the top of his head.

"Hibari," he cheeped. He'd carried on to repeat my name a few more times, increasing in volume with every syllable he pronounced.

"You're loud today," I commented.

A chirp was the answer I received.

It wasn't as though I had a lot of things to do that day; I'd simply been home for an hour at the most before my mother had called me down. I'd been at school, Namimori High School, for most of the day. Even if I had skipped one of the lessons and decided to take a nap on top of the school rooftop, I attended enough classes that I wasn't kicked out. It wasn't by choice that I'd attended there; I wanted nothing more than to be out of education doing whatever I wanted.

My father had stared me down when I'd let it slip that I might have attempted to threaten the principal at my old middle school to let me repeat a year. It was only a little threat, there weren't any weapons involved after all. I should have felt slightly bad for making an old lady frown at me before shaking, in what I assumed in fear, for a few minutes. I didn't though; simply strolling out of the room and returning home to let it slip to my parents what had happened.

School was not a time I enjoyed. Since I wasn't too familiar with any of the individuals, I had the pleasure of watching them from afar. That didn't mean I enjoyed what I saw, though—most of the time the events I witnessed were disgusting, full of lies and wrong in so many ways. I could clearly hear and see when someone complained about their so called best friend behind their backs. When a couple had a spat, went off to cheat on one another and then make up in less than a day. It was ridiculous the types of things I could observe without being directly involved. It meant I could clearly see the awful things people were capable of, no matter the age.

Middle school wasn't as bad as high school. Back then, before I'd entered high school, I'd obtained somewhat of a reputation. It was merely my quick temper that had gotten the best of me, causing me to lash out at unexpected times. Soon, many individuals became aware of me and some even fled from the room when I'd walked inside. At first, I'd quirked my eyebrow in curiosity before shrugging it off of my shoulders. Then it turned into annoyance. It wasn't as though I was going to bite anyone's head off if they came far too close. I didn't like people within my personal bubble, but it was extreme to think I would lash out at someone for being inside the same room.

The first day of high school—which was almost a month ago—was definitely odd. I hadn't recognised any faces and somehow, no one recognized me either. It was the awkward moment of staring at someone, waiting for them to gasp loudly before walking away. It hadn't happened yet though and somehow, I'd held my anger in for the past weeks. I'd taken my irritation out on a random delinquent down an alleyway a few days ago, but I'd never seen them before so it was all right. I actually liked it where no one knew me. I could skip lessons easily, since no one was concerned, and there were no whispers circulating around groups when I'd walked past. It was peaceful, to say the least.

"Kyouya!"

"Damnit," I muttered under my breath. My mother calling up to me at such a time usually meant only one thing; she wanted me to attempt to help out with dinner.

When my parents were out of town, which was almost weekly for one night, I made dinner for myself but that didn't mean I was always successful. It didn't seem to turn out well for me, something would always burn and I'd end up clucking my tongue in disgust. It wasn't how I wanted to spend my days, washing out burnt saucepans and frying pans. I'd given up after awhile, settling to cook noodles or something similar when they disappeared. The water did over boil sometimes, spilling out of the top of the saucepan and staining the cooker.

As I grasped my door handle, I took in a deep breath to keep my irritation levels under control. I wasn't going to snap out at an inanimate object where anyone could clearly see. The door creaked as it was opened, making me inwardly cringe a small amount, and creaked even more when it was shut behind me. _I need to oil the hinges, _I thought to myself.

Preparing dinner wasn't as disastrous as I'd anticipated. I simply had to chop a few vegetables, an easy task. Placing the finished dishes down onto the table, I took my seat across as I waited for my mother to bring the rest in.

As I was chewing on a small portion of rice, my mother found it necessary to bring up something unimportant.

"You're going to like Dino, Kyouya."

_Him again? _I thought incredulously to myself. It didn't seem the appropriate time for her to bring up her imaginary son. If anything, now was the time for being quiet and trying to get through the food as quickly as possible. I always found it awkward to sit down at the table with others, but I couldn't exactly steal the plates away and eat up in my room. Not only was that disrespectful, I didn't like the thought of it.

"Why is that?" I reluctantly asked. _I can humour her for awhile. _

"Because he's your brother," she exclaimed.

Almost automatically, my eyebrows rose before I gave my mother the worst look. Just because he was apparently a blood relative, that didn't mean I had to like him. It took me years to come to terms with my parents and start to like them a little bit. I'd found them idiotic—mostly my mother, though—and dismissive. Now that I was older I could see that it was just their personalities and that I shouldn't have taken it to heart when I was younger.

It was definitely a traumatic event for a five year old when a picture was ripped up in front of their face. I couldn't remember exactly what I'd created—probably a crappy rendition of a teddy or something—but my father had taken one look at it before calling it worthless. As I looked back on the event, I couldn't help but admit that he'd done the right thing. If he'd complimented it and egged me on to do something ridiculous, I would've looked like a fool.

"He's been staying with your grandmother since before you were born." _Plausible, but I'm still not buying it. _It would've made sense that I hadn't seen him if had been staying with my grandmother, but since I'd never met her or known of her existence, I believed it was bullshit.

"Really," I muttered, unconvinced.

"There was a problem on your father's side of the family, so she decided to take him in."

_Life story time? _I blinked in surprise. I hadn't expected my mother to start to open up to me and tell me what was wrong with half of the family. I'd always known it wasn't normal, heck I'd never even seen their faces, but it was a bit extreme to steal her imaginary friend and son. _Maybe they thought she was crazy? _

"I didn't want them to." Her voice had creaked near the end, just before she had only two syllables left to pronounce. Unconsciously my eyebrows furrowed at how convincing her words were starting to sound. I hadn't seen my mother cry in over five years—the last time being a fight with my father—but it seemed as though she was awfully close at that moment.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do to comfort, so I simply placed my chopsticks down onto the table to listen to what she had to say. It seemed like the least I could do. My arms were softly folded over my chest as I waited for her to explain. Her position was also convincing. The chopsticks were placed on the table, much like mine, and the dishes in front of us were long since forgotten. She'd placed her elbows onto the table and gently placed her head into her hands, shielding her expression into her palms.

"Why is he only coming back now?" I questioned.

"She died."_Who? _"That _woman_ died and Dino had no place to go," she explained in a soft voice. The only time the volume had increased was whilst she was insulting the old woman.

"So you sent Father out to get him?"

"Without hesitation, yes." A nod of her head, even though it was still in her hands, confirmed her statement.

"Do you even know what he looks like?" I asked.

"Handsome, tall," she sighed. I'd toned her out after two words, but she'd clearly carried on to praise him more. Her head was out of her hands and they were clasped in front of her as she stared into the air adoringly. She clearly had a place for him in her heart and at that point in time, I was about fifty percent convinced that he was real.

I still wasn't expecting him to turn up tomorrow though, probably just a dog or some animal remotely similar on a leash that would be led inside. There was absolutely no way that my father would come home with a random male who attempted to pose as my long lost brother. _Imaginary _long lost brother.

"That's nice," I retorted sarcastically.

"We've sent him pictures of you throughout the years," she told me whilst finally looking into my eyes. Her magenta irides seemed to be glittering with happiness at that moment and I found myself contemplating whether or not to ruin it. As much as I would've hated myself, she needed to come down low since I was disgusted with her actions.

"You've sent _him _pictures of me?" I repeated incredulously. "So he's known I exist whilst I've only just found out?" I spat through gritted teeth.

"Wait—" Mother stumbled over her words, but she was quickly silenced when I spoke again.

"Did I not deserve to know? I thought _you_ were better than this." My hands were loudly placed down on the table with enough force to shake the bowls and plates placed upon it. I narrowed my eyes down at my mother, whose expression seemed to have been a cross between surprise and sadness, before I moved my chair back noisily.

I walked away—not stomping my feet still—and kept my eyes glued down onto the floor. It wasn't as if I was angry at my mother for keeping him away, I was quite happy for that, but it was the fact that she didn't deem me important enough to know. It was humiliating that he was sent pictures where as I had lived my life oblivious. Even if he was still imaginary, or at least I hoped so, the thought of such a thing was irritating.

As soon as I was inside of my room, I leant back against my door and ran my right hand through my hair roughly. I didn't know what I wanted to do to relieve my irritation, but I knew that punching a wall wasn't the way forward. I'd tried that before, causing my dominant hand to be out of use for almost two weeks. _Definitely not worth it, _I reminded myself. Somehow, I found myself lying down on my bed with my arm strategically placed over my eyes, stopping the sunlight from penetrating my retinas and annoying me further.

"Not now, Hibird," I sighed.

The sound of wings fluttering met my ears, so I quickly assumed that he'd left the room. It was good that over the years he'd eventually learnt when to leave me alone. When I'd first gotten him, Hibird stayed attached to me for weeks on end. It was awkward to walk into the bathroom with a bird perched on top of my shoulder or even my head, but eventually, he'd learnt to fly away and return to my side when it was appropriate. I'd believed I was too harsh on him at first, even looking down at him with a frown upon my face, but that was long gone.

_What is there to do?_ It was probably around eight o'clock at night at that point. I knew that I'd stayed laying down on my bed for far too long doing nothing; the stiffness in my limbs proved that too. I didn't have enough enthusiasm to walk outside and find someone that I deemed appropriate to slaughter. That meant looking around and then wasting energy when I found out that they just weren't worth my time. I stretched my arms over my head quickly, popping my joints loudly and making myself cringe in the process, before reaching for my laptop again. Gaming was tempting at that moment. I could get my dose of violence without wasting too much energy; simply clicking away loudly at the keys and filling the silence up in the room. The power button was pressed quickly and I gnawed on the inside of my cheek to pass the time. There wasn't much choice of what I could play, though; I'd spent most of my time the other day deleting the games I didn't play anymore or what I'd lost interest in.

I decided to check my emails first and straight away, I noticed that I'd received three replies on the forum I was on earlier. I arched an eyebrow in curiosity before clicking on the link, loading the page up and scanning through the page.

_Count Blonde—How old are you then, Namibird?_

_Count Blonde_—_I'm sorry if that was a touchy subject. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to._

_Count Blonde_—_I wasn't trying to stalk you! Don't just leave me hanging here!_

_Really? _I thought incredulously to myself. I found myself replying quickly, even though the messages were ranging from three hours ago to one. He seemed to have taken a liking to spamming me, that was for sure.

_Namibird_—_I'm not on here all day, you know. I don't appreciate getting literally junk mail from you._

I minimized the browser quickly, searching through my files to see if there was anything I wanted to play. Apparently, there was not after ten minutes of looking. Instead, I'd deleted even more programs and started to sort through my music folder. It was full of crap that I didn't even acknowledge anymore. When the sound of an email echoed through my room, I blinked in surprise before opening it up. Yet again, I got a reply.

_Count Blonde_—_It's not like I am either. I'm just bored in the car; you're a good distraction._

The thought of being a distraction for someone brought a frown onto my face. If anything, I just wanted to insult Count Blonde instead of being friendly and bringing him away from life.

_Namibird_—_I couldn't care less about your life story. _

_Count Blonde_—_Well, I'm male. I guess you can tell I'm blonde. I'm a teenager._

My index finger and thumb automatically rose up to press against the bridge of my nose.

_Namibird_—_Did I ask for that information?_

_Count Blonde_—_I know you wanted it really. I could tell by the way you were typing._

My expression soon changed to one of disbelief. Count Blonde was definitely more of an idiot than I'd ever anticipated. I didn't know how much more of his idiocy I could take; my patience was getting tested, for sure.

_Count Blonde_—_What about you?_

_Namibird_—_None of your business. Goodbye._

I logged out quickly, making sure to close my email so I wouldn't have to get any more annoying alerts saying I had another reply. I couldn't have cared less if I got a reply from him. If anything, I was close to unsubscribing or classing it as junk mail so I wouldn't have to put up with him any more. He was probably a lonely thirteen-year-old, after all. That's what he came across as anyway. I would've been beyond surprised if he turned out to be more than eighteen. _Unbelievable. _I shook my head lightly to myself before placing the laptop back onto the floor and running a hand through my hair, sorting out the stray stands that were sticking out.

After musing over what I could do to keep myself occupied, I walked towards one of my drawers and pulled out a fresh pair of boxers. I shrugged myself out of my black school jacket that had been placed across my shoulders. Placing it across the back of my chair, I removed my socks too before padding across the hallway towards the bathroom. The wood felt cold against the soles of my feet, even more so when I stepped onto the white tiles of the bathroom. It was almost blinding walking into there; all of the room was white apart from the black towels lined up against the wall, hanging upon a railing. I rubbed my eyes from the brightness, trying to get my pupils adjusted to the difference outside. I would've rather showered in the dark but, of course, knowing my luck from that day I might have fallen over. I groped the wall for a few moments, trying to find the light switch until my hand came across the cold metal. I flicked it on to full quickly, cringing a small amount at the difference from before. I turned the knob for the shower on quickly, pulling my arm away so the water didn't fall on top of it and so I didn't shiver from the temperature. The last time I'd gotten inside too quickly, I'd hissed loudly out of discomfort and even glared at the knob for a few moments for turning it onto maximum. Now I knew to wait a few minutes before the water was fully heated and I wouldn't be shocked at the temperature.

My clothes were placed onto the floor quickly—not folded since they were dirty—and my clean boxers were placed on the counter side for me to change into afterwards. I didn't own any pyjamas to change into anymore; the last ones I'd grown out of and was too lazy to purchase a new pair. I wasn't into internet shopping either, I found it too awkward.

A shiver from the sudden change of temperature went through my body after I'd jumped into the shower. Immediately, my bangs flattened and went into my face and even a few of the strands awkwardly fell just in front of my eyes. I flicked them out of the way quickly before reaching for the shower gel. I'd lathered myself quickly and washed it off of my body before I realized I had a little problem. A small groan came out of my throat before I could stop it. I ran a hand through my hair in contemplation, wondering whether or not to engage in such an activity.

Apparently, my body's _needs _got the better of me. It didn't take me more than a few seconds to ponder over whether or not to continue and since I'd apparently not be alone after today, I decided to. I shut my eyes from the awkwardness before wrapping my hand slowly around my arousal, biting down on my lip at the change in the temperature. My palm felt warmer than the water that was pouring down onto my body. Slowly, I stroked my member whilst trying to keep my small moans at the back of my throat. I didn't know how much the room echoed, but considering that I'd heard the echo from just the door closing it was soon going to become embarrassing. I felt my cheeks start to heat up a considerable amount as I trailed a fingertip across my tip, unconsciously jerking forward at the sensation. I could feel the small jolts of pleasure building up by my lower half and even the uncomfortable spiralling inside of my stomach that was slowly, but surely, travelling lower and become more intensified.

As my pace increased and I could feel myself unconsciously writhing, I could tell that I was getting closer. My cheeks were stained red from the pleasure and probably what was embarrassment. Even more so as I came messily into my hand, releasing a low moan at the feeling of release. "A-ah."

I stared down at my hand which was now covered in some of the white liquid in disgust. Washing it away as quickly as possible, I continued on with the rest of my tasks such as washing my hair.

Walking out of the bathroom with my boxers in place and a towel placed on top of my head, I'd emptied my dirty clothes into the washing basket quickly before retreating into my room. I was still feeling humiliated for what I'd done, but I knew that at least it would keep me from engaging in such a thing for a few more days. For some reason, I didn't like masturbating. _Just no, _I thought to myself. I towel dried my hair quickly before letting the towel hang limply across my shoulders as I sat down on my bed. My curiosity got the better of me though, that was for sure. I clicked onto my email, amazed that I had four replies this time instead of three even though it was probably not even forty minutes ago that I'd left. _Someone has no life,_ I thought with disgust evident in my mental voice.

_Count Blonde_—_Ah! You're leaving already? I don't have anyone else to talk to!_

_Count Blonde_—_You're just playing hard to get._

_Count Blonde_—_Okay, maybe not. _

_Count Blonde_—_I guess I'll speak to you tomorrow. I've got to come off now, I'm at the hotel. Bye, Nami!_

"Nami?" I said out loud with bewilderment clear in my voice. "That's a feminine name."

Shaking my head, I turned the power off without even bothering to reply. I didn't have enough motivation to reply with anything remotely threatening. I pulled the duvet over my body after the laptop was placed on the floor, pressing my head further into my pillows to try and get into a comfortable position. It didn't work too well, though; it took me at least half an hour to finally lull myself into a sleep.

"Kyouya." I heard my mother call in the morning, successfully pulling me out of my unconsciousness.

I blinked in surprise before moving my hands up to rub my eyes and attempt to rub the drowsiness I was still feeling away, too. It didn't work though, I could tell that since as soon as I'd pressed my feet against the floor a large yawn had ripped out of my throat. I placed a hand over my mouth to yawn into as I exited my room, still trying to keep my eyes open. Scratching the back of my neck, I walked down the stairs and peered over the banister, trying to see where my mother was calling from.

"_Kyouya_," she called again, this time drawling out the vowels of my name.

"Here," I answered before yawning into my hand again.

The sound of the doorbell ringing cut her off. "Would you get that, please?"

After staring down at my attire—of just my boxers—I reluctantly stepped down from the last step, onto the floor and wandered towards the door. There wasn't any hole or a window to see who it was; I simply had to open the door to inspect who it was. I grasped the door handle quickly, hearing my mother's whistling echoing throughout the hall, before turning the handle and opening the door slowly.

Whoever was at the door I didn't get to glance at for long. Before I knew what had happened, I saw a blob of yellow rushing towards me and the wind hitting against my face before my back hit the floor with a low thud. I could feel the weight and heat from a body on top of mine, but I was frozen from surprise.

"Kyouya," the stranger muttered affectionately.

**AN: **This chapter is edited to make the parents Alaude and Oregano, rather than just OCs that I made up on a whim before. I apologise for the OOCness, and also the odd tone this first chapter has. There are no page breaks, too, which I find annoying now that I look back on it.


	2. Decisions

**fuwacchi: **This is longer, kill me haha. I love you, too. STOP SPOILING AMAGAWD. Someone could have read your review and is now crying in a corner. You bitch. They were pr0n pictures, of course. Some pedophilic. A little Kyouya in the bathtub with bubbles around him~ Dino has that picture inside his wallet. Trust me. I had to write something to make it M-rated already! Someone suggested it too LOL. Blame them! Not me! HNNNG. Dino is Victorian clothing would be fantastic. **meikau: **Haha, yup. Another new story from me and incest. Since incest is wincest. Mhmm. Ohoho, you're confessing your love! :D I did try to make her like Dino, I'm glad you noticed. Thanks for bothering to look at my new crap, by the way. Reviewing too, I really appreciate it. **ezzelin: **Why thank you. C: **hinamorimomo13: **Thanks for reviewing :D Haha I just wanted something different. There are barely any fics involving games. I don't know if I'll actually get them to play it though... I liked saying bullshit that day. :( I'm sorry! His parents have _no _names. They're mysterious. LOL. I kid. I'm just not that creative XD I know I'll hate them later on too. I feel like you're challenging me. :( I have no ideas for TYL! It's more fun for them being younger. I do have a WIP which is four years later, but that's not going to be like my usual stories xDD;; Stupid prompts. **Rena: **It's so fun to write though haha since no one else has one! /claims idea for my own. I MADE IT UP. **Eyes17k: **Tackle of _love _more like it, kekeke. Brother Dino is hawt. ;) **Dead in Ditches: **Haha, read on and see if it was Dino or not. :P Not gonna make a random stranger do it though XD -blushes from your review- you're so kind! :D

_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter two—Decisions

My muscles had tensed from the initial shock, and when a gasp of surprise had left my lips, immediately I'd cursed at myself inside my head. Snapping out of my shock, I attempted to struggle out from under the stranger. I could make out that there were a pair of arms wrapped roughly around my neck, digging into my back, and making my position one that was extremely awkward, and the warmth that was being transferred into my own body. My cheeks were as warm as our connecting skin, but that was surely due to the embarrassment of being manhandled when I was only clad in a black pair of boxers.

I struggled out from under the body before falling limp and opening my eyes as I felt a head pressed into the right of my own, moving around and pressing into me more with each second that was passing. The action was similar to nuzzling, in a way, but the fact that I was frozen stiff made it even more awkward. Their chin was digging into my shoulder painfully and as I eventually let my eyes flutter open in bewilderment, I could only make out a blond mop of hair with random strands sticking out, looking much like a cat's fur where the licked parts chose to stand out awkwardly. Gaining control of my limbs after what seemed like minutes on end, though it was surely only a few minutes, my hands shot up to clasp onto the shoulders of the stranger.

A low whine of disapproval left their throat, vibrating against my skin as they moved closer into me. My fingers curled around their clothed shoulders, nails digging into the soft material as I used more force to push them off me. My teeth gritted together as I moved them away from me, the cold air missing the area they had placed their head on my body, making a shiver run up my spine.

The image I'd burnt into my retinas wasn't what I'd expected. The stranger was male, I'd found out, but it wasn't that that had made my muscles lock again. My hands were still gripping his shoulders too harshly as I found out that his appearance was similar to my father's. I gulped, trying to get rid of the lump that was forming in my throat, whilst my eyes widened in surprise.

The blonde hair I'd caught sight of earlier wasn't in a random haircut, instead an attractive one where middle length bangs were falling softly into his face, obscuring his vision with the style. His irides were a soft shade of sienna, shining brightly with curiosity as he stared down at me. As my eyes trailed over the curve of his nose, noting that his skin was a more tanned and healthy shade than my own, I became aware of the leg that was placed between my own. The feeling of denim pressing against lower thigh was irritating and with the heat of his body mixed it, in was too hard to ignore. A small smile spread across his lips as he stared down at me, his expression softening as he took in my own. There was no doubt inside my mind that the male in front of me was the brother I had been told about. Although there were no similarities between us, the resemblance between him and our parents was uncanny.

When I became aware that the heat was still building in my cheeks—which was surely from embarrassment since I'd been placed in an awkward situation—my fingers curled against his shirt, making the material wrinkle within my grasp. _T-this isn't right, _I thought shakily to myself, trying to ignore the fact that my muscles were trying to tense themselves again.

"You're hurting me," he murmured lowly.

Dino's voice wasn't what I was expecting. I was pretty sure I'd heard that he was only a year older than me, meaning he was probably seventeen despite the fact I hadn't asked for his birthday, but for some reason I'd still imagined a high pitched voice. It was probably due to the fact that I hardly believed he was real. If it was simply my imagination playing tricks on me at that moment, I was seriously tripping out. The warmth, awkward atmosphere, and irritation I was feeling were too extreme for a simply daydream. I couldn't deny our relation when I could see the evidence before my very eyes. There was a very slow chance, but surely there could've been a strange sort of stalker who'd decided to take on an appearance that was related to mine. There were many sick people in the world, after all. _I'm not being molested though, _I pointed out. It was border line to molestation—due to our positioning—but I doubted whether incest was on his mind. I had no idea what his reaction to anything had been, or even the news that I existed.

Apparently he'd had the exact opposite reaction to my own. I'd been outraged, but at that moment in time as I was staring into his eyes that were shining with an emotion similar to happiness, my own were filling up with anger.

Pushing my arms forward, causing Dino to fall back, I pulled myself up from the floor and received a sick thrill as I saw him fall back against the floor. I'd had good luck at that moment; his head had slammed into the side of the front door, causing a low thud to be heard just before his painful gasp overlapped it. I grinded my teeth together before picking myself up from the floor completely, clenching my left hand into a fist as I tried to keep my anger under control. I'd learnt from experience that losing control over my emotions in front of my father was never a good thing.

He was bound to come walking into the house at any moment, at least I thought he hadn't came inside whilst I was experiencing an invasion of privacy. It was obvious I was enraged at that moment; the slant of my eyebrows along with my narrowed eyelids indicated that well, along with my body language. Cracking one of his eyelids open, Dino stared up at me before letting his mouth open silently in surprise. A bewildered expression flashed across his face before I opened my mouth to speak.

"Don't touch me," I hissed quietly, only loud enough for him to hear clearly.

The sound of footsteps soon met my ears, just after I'd pronounced my last syllable, meaning that my mother was walking out from the kitchen to greet him. Dino's eyes didn't stray from my own as she came closer, nor did he move from his awkward position on the floor, definitely not the usual casual pose.

"Dino," she called before her pace increased. She glided past me quickly, staring down at Dino curiously as her hands were placed onto her thighs. "What are you doing on the floor?"

Releasing a musical laugh, he replied, "I kind of tripped over, I guess." His hand was raised up from the floor, scratching the back of his neck and lifting his hair up in the process, trying to portray an air of innocence.

"Eh?" she questioned before glancing between the both of us suspiciously. My irritated stance wasn't helping my case, it seemed. "I'll leave you two alone."

"Mom—" Dino started.

"You have catching up to do, like I do with your father!"

Before either of us could refuse, Dino had gotten up from the floor and she'd disappeared out of the door. We both let our eyes follow her form as she left the house, walking quickly to where the car had been parked. I was still staring outside the door when I felt my face start to prickle. My lips formed into a frown when I realized it was just his eyes looking directly at me, alerting me that he was seeking for my attention. My eyes were closed for less than three seconds, but just long enough to take in a deep breath whilst trying not to snap out again. He'd seemed to have forgiven my rejection from a few minutes ago, lying openly to our mother before looking at me curiously. _At least he's smart, _I observed. The situation could have been much worse; him calling out and demanding an explanation for what had happened. Although there was a silent one in the air, he wasn't voicing it out.

"Kyouya?" he called softly.

With irritation clearly etched across my face I turned to look at him. "Don't talk to me," I spat.

After my demand which I'd hoped had been processed within his mind and taken appropriately, I pivoted on my heel before gripping the banister and walking up the stairs. One of my hands was still clenched into a fist as I walked up the steps quickly, straining my ears to see if Dino had the ignorance to follow me upstairs.

Apparently, he hadn't, but that didn't mean he had the brains to not talk to me, too.

"Why are you running away?" he called loudly, confusion laced into his voice.

My answer was to carry on walking up the stairs, making sure my feet weren't pressing too harshly against the carpet and making a low thud against the wood inside. I was attempting to play it off as something completely normal; that I was confused at that moment and simply walking away to refresh my head. It would've been slightly humiliating to admit, especially since he'd seemed to have accepted me so quickly. Although he'd seen pictures of me over the years, or so I'd been told, that didn't mean I was supposed to have been accepted into his life and allowed to have been hugged as soon as we were within a two meter distance of each other. I doubted whether if it was the other way around that I would be embracing Dino, welcoming him into my life without a complaint.

I _refused _to accept him at that moment in time. A new family member was hard to accept, but someone who'd immediately acted as close as best friends and seemed to have wanted to play the role of older brother correctly was not what I wanted.

Shutting the door softly behind me inside my bedroom, I leant against the door whilst closing my eyes. I leant back into it, my palms pressing against the cold wood whilst my eyebrows furrowed without my command being necessary. I knew I needed to get dressed yet instead of doing so, I decided that I needed to calm down first. Taking in deep breaths, I contemplated a few ways of trying to get over the shock quickly and trying not to be as awkward.

One of those ways was to simply walk up to Dino, demand to know how he'd accepted the news quickly and copy his instructions. It was quickly dismissed though; asking for advice was a form of weakness to me. Cracking my eyelids opened, I stared dully down at my black carpet whilst gnawing on the inside of my cheek. It would've seemed as though I was raising a white flag of surrender by asking for advice, showing that I couldn't possibly come up with an appropriate answer by my own. That wasn't necessarily true, but it might have been for that case. It was too damn odd to have met him not even twenty-four hours after being told the news. There was the possibility that I could have been relatively fine with meeting him if I was given more notice.

"A few years would have been good," I muttered under my breath.

My left hand quickly ran through my hair, knotting the delicate strands which seemed to have always fallen into an organized mess, before it fell back down by my side as I released a sigh.

After collecting myself together and choosing to push the situation I was previously in out of my mind, I padded across my room before opening up the wardrobe. I chose to wear my normal attire; a soft white cotton shirt and black trousers before eyeing my black jacket that was placed on the back of my black desk chair in the corner of the room, having an internal debate about whether or not to wear it. Although I doubted that I was going to have been leaving the house, the temperature inside was hot, plus the extra person that was joining the family meant another source of heat. I shrugged lightly to myself, choosing to come back later if I was too cold or not.

I slipped into my trousers quickly before placing my shirt on, buttoning up the annoying buttons quickly before crossing my arms and pondering what to do. I spied my laptop that was lying on the desk before averting my eyes, choosing to find something more productive to do than on there. Although a violent game would've been a good choice and highly enjoyable, I would've probably wanted to express my feelings of aggression in real life too before trailing outside and finding a victim. It was an enjoyable hobby albeit time consuming and burning up far too much energy. I usually spent too long looking for a suitable someone to punch; any reason, no matter how childish, was better than none. That way I could claim it was a punishment of sorts for my own amusement.

My eyes scanned my room quickly, landing on the bookcase placed beside my desk and mounted on the wall before I looked over the titles it featured. None of them caught my eyes though, so that idea was quickly kicked out of my mind just as soon as it had come. I probably needed to find some time to visit a book store and purchase new titles or a card to order on the internet. Although it was easier online, the last time I'd tried I'd received the wrong book since I was an idiot.

Giving up, I pressed the power button of my laptop quickly before settling myself down onto my bed. Placing a pillow behind my head that was resting against the wall, I flexed my fingers out in front of me whilst the starting screen was glowing in front of me. My curiosity had immediately been piqued after I'd loaded up my browser, clicking onto my email to see what I'd received. For some reason or another, I'd gotten another reply on the forum I'd been on yesterday.

Blinking in surprise, I opened the page before rolling my eyes in exasperation, hardly believing my eyes after I'd absorbed the information on the page.

_Count Blonde_—_Nami! How are you this morning? I'm guessing you've got the same time zone as me and its morning there._

Before I knew what I was doing, I'd started typing an incredulous reply.

_Namibird_—_Why are you calling me Nami? Yes, it's morning._

His first message was from only thirteen minutes ago, clearly indicating he didn't have anything else to do, much like myself, on a Saturday morning. Squeezing the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger, I contemplated on what to occupy my time with. It was noon yet I still had an hour left and no plans at all. I knew one thing that I was going to be doing, though; avoiding Dino.

The soft pinging of an email alert brought me out of my pondering. Arching at eyebrow, I refreshed the page.

_Count Blonde_—_Your name's Nami, I know it is. It suits you. I'm good, thanks for asking! _

_Namibird_—_It's not. Idiot._

_Count Blonde_—_Lies. At least you're replying to me today. I was worried that I scared you off for being too... talkative? _

My other eyebrow soon joined the other, a small smirk playing on the corner of my lip as my fingertips pressed against the buttons quickly.

_Namibird_—_Just get some friends in real life. You can talk all you want to them._

_Count Blonde_—_I could say the same right back at you. You're more fun to talk to._

"Guess I'm being classed the same as him," I murmured.

_Namibird_—_Get an imaginary friend instead._

Yawning lightly into my hand, I leaned further back into the wall whilst staring up at my ceiling. There really wasn't much for me to do; homework was all done, since I'd attended just enough lessons to pass, I didn't have to do any chores nor were there any hobbies I could indulge myself in. It seemed the only thing that could keep me mildly amused at that moment was the idiot I'd somehow attracted on the internet. _I could always toy with him, _I pondered.

It could be fun, having someone twisted around my finger whilst surfing through the internet. If I ever got round to playing the game, too, he could at least come in useful. One of my arms quickly replaced the pillow that had been behind my head, making the position even more comfortable as I gnawed on my lip and contemplated how I could make use of him. There were many ways.

The first, and probably most enjoyable, would be to lie through my teeth and see what kind of things I could twist him into doing. Luring him onto another game and making him act as a mule—someone to simply store my items with—could have been another option, but it seemed far too lame than toying with him. He'd already deluded himself into thinking I was a female by the name of Nami; making him depend upon my presence couldn't have been too far.

A smirk played on the corner of my lips as I mused, "This might be fun."

_Count Blonde_—_I'm far too old for that. Do you have one then, Nami? _

_Namibird_—_Unfortunately, he got killed off. The same could happen to you if you talk to me._

_Count Blonde_—_Oh! You're cursed? That's new._

_Namibird_—_It'll be old once you're dead._

_Count Blonde_—_You're charming, aren't you?_

Unintentionally, a small laugh escaped my lips as I found the odd conversation amusing. If Count blonde could put up with my warped sense of humour, then my intentions were going to go down well.

_Namibird_—_I'm told often._

_Count Blonde_—_Understandable. How old are you?_

Again, the subject of age had come up. Count Blonde hadn't revealed his age before, simply saying he was a teenager. _Two can play at that game, _I thought whilst arching an eyebrow delicately. My fingertips pressed against the keys quickly, making it so the only sounds that were audible inside the room were my steady breaths and the clicks the keyboard emitted.

_Namibird_—_Old enough to make you bleed._

His reply was amusing, too.

_Count Blonde_—_Feisty._

Closing the browser and then putting the laptop to sleep, I placed it back on my desk before stretching in front of me. If I talked to him for ages, I probably would've gotten too rude and ruined what I'd wanted to happen. I chose to look for something else to do, and apparently that task was tidying up my room before I knew what I was doing. I'd resorted my bookcase and then the random books I'd had laying around my room and even found a small notebook placed on my windowsill. Curiously I'd opened it, but only found small drawings from being bored in class through middle school. I'd raised my eyebrows at some of the things I'd written, hardly believing it. The notepad ended up in the bin after a few minutes of browsing; it didn't hold any sentimental value or any information I might have wanted for the future. I was better off without it, too. It was simply a reminder for the boring tasks I'd spent most of my life doing. When thirty minutes had passed and I'd really nothing to do at all, I sighed quietly to myself.

The distinct sound of someone knocking on my door met my ears, piquing my curiosity as I looked over to it. My eyebrow was arched as whoever it was let themselves in, slowly turning the door knob and letting the creak swing open without creaking. There was only one person who didn't know how the system inside the home worked and that had to be the new addition. _Dino. _

Usually, Mother would call my name if she wanted anything, or Father would ask her to call me for him. It was a simple process, one which meant my privacy wasn't stomped upon. The last time my Mother had been inside my bedroom would have probably been when I was thirteen. I'd proclaimed I was far too old for her to be doing chores for me, such as cleaning clothes and replacing my sheets. It was embarrassing as well, especially when I'd hit the age where I'd started to stain my sheets accidentally. She'd insisted on still cooking dinner, though, sometimes calling me down to help much like I'd done the day before.

A frown spread across my lips as I saw Dino standing at the door, the light shining on his hair and making it possess a blinding shade of blond that threatened to damage my retinas.

He was dressed in a relatively normal outfit; a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a pair of jeans. There wasn't anything too fancy about them, but I immediately thought he'd dressed up for the occasions. From our _encounter _earlier, I couldn't tell what height he was but as I was standing face to face with him—only about two metres away—I could tell that I was the smaller one out of the both of us. My frown increased as I predicted that I would've only just reached his chin despite my hopes. I wasn't tall anyway, only measuring just above average height, but I felt as though I'd lost another unannounced contest between us. I did feel more in control facing him since I was finally dressed. _Boxers probably weren't the best attire for facing a new family member, _I grumbled inside my mind.

"Hey," he called whilst letting his eyes dart around the room.

My eyebrow lost its posture when I'd glanced down to see what he was grasping in his right hand. There was a small suitcase placed within his palm, fingers curled around the handle, and it seemed as though Dino was planning on entering my room. He shuffled inside quickly, leaving the door open behind him before leaning back against the wall. His eyes were just trailing over to the corner of the room where my bed was located as I opened my mouth. "What are you doing?"

"We're sharing a room," he announced.

_Excuse me? _"We're _what?_" I questioned.

"Mom said I'm going to sleep with you," he clarified whilst still not looking in my direction.

I'd been lied to too much already in the past day, so I decided to see if I could catch him out. There was still another spare room within the house; there was about a thirty percent chance that Dino would have to room with me. Since I refused to believe it, I let my eyes trail over his stance, noting that his arms were tensed and his eyes were looking off into a different direction.

I arched one eyebrow as I chose to believe that he was lying. "Oh?" I gasped mockingly.

"Yes," he replied quickly.

Taking a step forward and crossing my arms over my chest, I threatened, "If you want all of your teeth still, _Dino, _I suggest you leave."

"Eh?"

"You're not welcome here, herbivore."

"Wait, Kyouya—"

Letting my hands connect with his body for the second time that day, I pushed him out into the hallway, smirking at the fact he stumbled over his own feet, before rasping the door in my hand. "Don't come inside," I spat before letting the door slam on his bewildered face.

The sound of Dino moving against my door met my ears. _Probably kicking it_, I guessed. Shaking my head in disgust of his now clear childish actions, I sat back down on the edge of the bed, my feet still firmly placed upon the floor. The frown was still upon my face as I mulled over what Dino had said. There really was a chance that he'd been informed that he was supposed to stay inside my room—which didn't contain an extra bed—which would've meant I overreacted and embarrassed myself. I'd clearly been asked not to be rude to him, too.

"That didn't turn out well," I murmured.

Dino was probably scared off from my behaviour already. Although that was a good thing, at least in my eyes rather than my parents, it was still going to be awkward around the dinner table. If I was lucky, that would be the only place that I'd see him. _How old was he again? _Pinching the bridge of my nose, I realized I might have seen him at school, too. It was lucky we didn't look alike though, otherwise people would've classed him the same as me. The thought of him being secluded alongside me wasn't one I agreed with.

A slightly muffled, but still low voice, travelled through my door. "I have all the time in the world to wait."

_He's still there? _I raised my head to stare at my door in surprise. He'd made no attempt to come inside again and from what I could tell from the noise earlier and his voice a moment ago, Dino was simply sitting outside and waiting. "Wh—" I'd started and was cut off by his voice again.

Softly, yet just audible, he continued. "I waited to meet you, after all." The frown slid off my face after I'd processed his comment, only my eyebrows were slightly furrowed as I waited for him to continue, if he even could. "I'm just happy I got to see you."

Finally hearing something serious from Dino made me realize just how pathetic I was being. He'd accepted me quickly, even anticipated meeting which was why the first meeting was probably over enthusiastic. Yet, at that moment, I was simply threatening him and acting as though I was a serial killer trying to distance myself. Although I wasn't going to welcome him with open arms, I could at least have tried to tolerate him. He hadn't been inside the house for more than three hours at that point and was already shoved outside of my room.

Gnawing on the inside of my cheek, I pondered what to do whilst getting up from my bed. Somehow, I ended up pacing in the space between my bed and the end of my desk, pondering how not to change my behaviour too dramatically and scare him further. A brother that he suspected was bipolar wouldn't have gone down well.

"I—"

Frustrated that I hadn't had enough time to think about what to do, I picked up the nearest item and threw it towards the door. The book hitting against the wood made his mouth slam shut and no more words to come out. _I messed up again._

As I stared curiously towards the door, waiting for his voice to leak through the cracks again, I gnawed on my bottom lip.

After five minutes had past and I'd still received no more comments from Dino, I pulled the laptop into my lap whilst sitting down on the floor. My back was pressed against the frame of my bed as my legs were spread out in front of me, comfortably letting my fingertips tap against the floor as I loaded up a browser.

"Another reply," I murmured.

_Count Blonde_—_Fifteen__?_

_Count Blonde_—_No, no. I take that back. You threaten me too much; seventeen!_

_He's close, _I internally mused. Only one year off, but I wasn't going to admit that on the internet. I barely ever revealed real information on the internet and since Count Blonde hadn't, too, I was going to follow his lead.

_Namibird_—_Teenager. That's all you need to know._

_Count Blonde_—_How cool. _

_Count Blonde_—_Still have nothing to do today?_

_Namibird_—_Shouldn't I be asking you that?_

_Count Blonde_—_No. I don't any more._

_Namibird_—_How nice for you._

_Count Blonde_—_Thanks for that. What have you been doing today?_

Raising an eyebrow, I tried to keep my intentions in my mind and trying to be pleasant. I decided that it could be classed as practice for being nice to Dino, too. If I could tolerate one idiot, another one should be fine.

_Namibird_—_Nothing that concerns you._

_Count Blonde_—_I guess you've done nothing then. _

_Namibird_—_What about you?_

I leant my head back against my bed, staring up at my ceiling instead of waiting to refresh the page. I wasn't particularly interested in his reply, but it was better than spending my time doing nothing. There were a few people that I'd spoken to in the past on the internet yet I'd quickly blocked their addresses and chosen to move on to better things. Better things meaning being alone, of course. When the alert went off again, alerting me that I needed to look down at the screen, I let my eyes close before I placed an arm over my eyes. The feeling of laziness was taking over and my disinterest in even talking, too.

A small sigh escaped my lips before the only sound inside the room was my gentle breathing. Dino hadn't made any more noise and I couldn't tell whether or not he'd walked away and explored the rest of the home.

"Kyouya."

Jerking myself forward, forgetting that I had a laptop in my lap, I blinked furiously whilst willing myself to become fully awake. I'd fallen asleep earlier when I was just resting my eyes, apparently. Yawning lightly into my hand, I picked up the fallen laptop that was on its side and placed it on my bed quickly, but not before refreshing the page. My eyes immediately darted to the corner of the screen, seeing the time clearly displayed. I blinked in shock for a few moments before cursing under my breath. I'd apparently fallen asleep for over two hours; it was three o'clock in the afternoon at that point.

The palm of my left hand was being rubbed against my eyelid, trying to bring myself to full alert as I read over his replies.

_Count Blonde_—_Nami's curious about me, eh? I've done nothing interesting._

_Count Blonde_—_Are you okay? You've been quiet for awhile._

_Count Blonde_—_It was nice speaking to you again, but I've got to go now. I've finally got something to do._

My reply was late, but better than nothing I supposed.

_Namibird_—_Goodbye._

"Kyouya!" my name was called again, this time louder and shriller.

Grimacing to myself, I stood up from the floor and trotted over towards my door. I was wiping the imaginary dirt off of my shirt and trousers as I opened the door, sticking my head out a small fraction as I looked for any sign of Dino. Apparently, he wasn't there at all. I could tell that clearly from the emptiness and as I placed my feet down where I guessed he was previously, there wasn't any warmth.

I shrugged my shoulders slightly before padded down the stairs, my footsteps almost silent against the plush carpet. I saw that my mother was in the kitchen and decided that it was her who called—after all, the voice was high pitched in a sense—and walked towards her. I felt bad for losing my temper yesterday but going out of my way to apologize wasn't what I did. My canines were scarping against the inside of my cheek as I stepped inside and thought of how to start the awkward conversation.

"Kyouya!" she exclaimed with a smile on her face after she'd turned around. She was obviously happy at that moment; the small wrinkles around her eyes from the smile spread across her lips prove that, too. _I can't kill that expression, _I thought to myself. _I'll attempt to apologize later. _I'd opened my mouth to talk yet she'd cut me off whilst twirling around to reach into her bag. "I need you to do me a favour," she confessed.

Instead of answering, I arched one of my eyebrows as she turned round again, this time with a purse clutched between her hands.

"Can you go shopping with Dino for dinner, please?" _With Dino? _I wanted to voice out my question with an incredulous tone, but the smile on her face cut me off. I'd already snapped at her the day before; anymore would've been disrespectful."He's already waiting outside for you."

The money was shoved into my hands quickly before I was given a small push forward. Frowning to myself, I walked out of her hands before slipping my shoes off and opening the front door slowly. Sure enough, Dino was standing with his back pressed against the bricks, staring down into the street as he waited. Taking a few silent steps in front of him, I called out.

"Hurry up," I demanded.

He didn't reply and simply walked forward, attempting to match my steps. He wasn't walking in front of me or beside me, trailing behind me slowly probably as he was absorbed in the street. I doubted whether or not he knew where we were going; he hadn't lived here before. I'd been told by my parents that we'd moved to Namimori when I was five years old. We walked to the end of the street quickly, only the sound of our footsteps breaking the awkward silence. I was scraping one of my nails against my palm at the atmosphere. It wasn't enjoyable, but I was keeping my decision from hours ago fresh inside my mind. I was going to attempt to be pleasant towards him. In the future, if we both continued on the way we had been, it was surely going to be even worse between us. As long as he didn't attempt to act as though he was the older brother I could go to for advice and depend upon, his presence might have been tolerable.

"Kyouya?" he called from behind me.

_Be friendly, _I reminded myself. "Yes?"

His voice was soft as he spoke. "Do you hate me?"

I answered honestly after about a minute of silence. We'd simply walked forward, turning a corner with the atmosphere getting worse. "No." _I just hate that I didn't know._

Dino sighed quietly to himself before we'd walked into a crowded street. I was happy that we didn't have to talk to each other anymore, with him hopefully understanding I didn't want to, as we walked forward. It did mean he had to walk closer to me though, since he didn't know his way around. I swore Dino had stumbled into me but picked himself up at the last minute, but it was only a guess from the sound of his suddenly loud footsteps a few moments ago. I picked the nearest supermarket to go into, turning with alerting Dino a tall and entering through the automatic doors. When I was halfway down an aisle, with Dino following after me, I realized I had a problem.

_I don't know what we need, _I cursed inside my mind.

When I'd paused to yawn into my hand again, still tired from only just waking up from my sleep, Dino walked in front of me to look for the ingredients. I arched my eyebrow before watching him get everything needed; quickly looking through the aisles and placing them inside a basket he'd made appear magically. I simply waited by the end of the aisle, standing awkwardly, until it would be over. When I'd placed my hand inside my trousers, I forgot about something. I had the money, where as Dino was simply carrying what was needed. Sighing to myself, I walked forward just in time to see him stumble forward again.

_He's clumsy, _I observed.

The blush that was staining his cheeks was amusing, but I quickly averted my eyes when he turned to look at me curiously. I pulled my hand which was grasping the money out of my pocket before holding it out in front of me, in his direction, with a frown across my lips. "Here," I said.

He looked down in confusion before releasing a small breath of understanding. The money was placing into his hand quickly before I turned around, finding out that I had no need to be inside anymore. I was pretty sure Dino would know the way back home as well. We had walked to the supermarket slowly in the awkward atmosphere. I couldn't bear it anymore either; if I had to choose between a small scolding and staying with him, I knew what I would choose.

"I'm going home," I announced before proceeding to walk away.

"E-eh?" he questioned loudly. "Kyouya!"

"You know where you're going," I accused with a small irritated glance in his direction.

I took in a deep breath after I was walking outside again, adoring the feeling of taking in fresh air to my lungs. The walk back home was enjoyable, only the sounds of small chatter from individual groups and the sounds of my footsteps. I'd walked faster than before, going quickly and enjoying the slight burn in my muscles. I'd congratulated myself for not losing my temper with him, but that didn't mean my irritation levels were soothed down to neutral. I was grinding my teeth together in impatience by the time I'd stepped foot into my room, immediately picking up my jacket and perching it upon my shoulders. _I'll just find someone to vent my frustrations on, _I decided quickly.

Soon, I found myself walking down the same streets I'd walked with Dino not even an hour ago. I'd turned off and walked somewhere else though, choosing not to risk the chance of awkwardly walking into him. I trailed a fingertip over the tonfa placed within my jacket, pursing my lips as I looked for someone suitable.

"That's better," I sighed before flicking the blood off of my tonfa. I'd found someone suitable after five more minutes of searching; he'd had a bottle of beer placed within his grasp, laughing senselessly with his friends without realizing I was approaching. I'd recognized who it was immediately. I'd seen him back when I was attending middle school.

Although I didn't know his exact age, it didn't take long for me to realize he wasn't of age to drink. The bottle was my first victim—I'd thrown one of my tonfas expertly, smashing the top half of the glass before his face was plastered in surprise. There were no scratches across my body from the one-sided fight, simply a small drop of his blood that had splashed onto the bottom of my shirt. I stared down at it in displeasure, not liking the contrast between my white shirt and the scarlet liquid.

By the time I was slipping my shoes off silently and walking up to my room, the sky was just starting to be stained a mixed shade of orange and red. I'd spent far too much time idly walking, not sure of what to do with myself before sitting down on a bench within a park. It was a dumb idea—I could tell that now—but it was relaxing at the time. Sighing to myself and closing my eyes in the process, I pressed my palm against the wood of my door and pushed, efficiently opening it and stepping inside.

After four steps, my foot didn't hit against my flooring, though. I'd pressed my foot against something soft with a texture similar to one of a pillow. Opening my eyes and peering down curiously, I blinked in shock when I saw half of my foot was pressed against a white mattress. There wasn't a duvet or pillow of any sort placed on top of it though; there was simply an empty mattress placed into the middle of the room.

"He wasn't lying," I mused.

Luck wasn't on my side, it seemed; that the thirty percent chance that Dino had to room with me had came true. If I hadn't gone out to vent my frustrations, I probably would've been alone in my room. There hadn't been anyone or any mattress inside of my room when I'd grabbed my jacket. If I'd stayed, Dino wouldn't have been able to place it inside. _Nice choice, Me, _I congratulated myself. Holding my jacket within one hand, I let my foot press against the side of the mattress until it was pressed against my chest of drawers and wardrobe. There was at least space so he wouldn't have been too close to me when I was asleep and vulnerable.

Not finding anything to do, since I'd cleaned my room earlier, I decided to go downstairs to see if I could find anything to claim my attention. My hand slid against the banister as I walked down the stairs, straining my ears to see if I could hear anything.

Halfway down, I heard my mother talking. "Do you know where Kyouya is?"

"I think he went out," a low voice replied.

_Dino. _I recognized his voice immediately and I'd pinpointed their location to be in the kitchen. Gripping the banister harshly, I stopped walking to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"He left you?" she questioned.

"Nope," he lied.

_Why is he lying for me? _I wasn't exactly nice earlier, although I had tried. He'd covered up my actions from this morning, too. My eyebrows were furrowed as I tried to figure out his intentions, yet I couldn't come up with anything. I sat down on one of the steps, my back pressed against the banister as I listened in.

"I'm glad you're getting along well."

"Yeah," Dino replied softly. "Me too."

"Kyouya's always been quiet, so it's nice he's talking to you." _Just give him my life story, Mother, _I mentally grumbled whilst fingering with the bridge of my nose.

"He's not what I was expecting," he confessed. _That's more than enough, _I didn't want the conversation they were having to go any deeper. It should have been about something happy instead of _me. _Grimacing lightly to myself, I picked myself up from the stairs and stepped down onto the floor, making sure the thud was loud enough to be heard. It seemed to have worked; their conversation stopped as I turned my head in their direction, just in time to see them both jump in surprise before looking away, busying themselves in something ridiculous.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I walked into the living room after hearing the clattering of plates hitting each other. They were probably making dinner together, meaning I didn't have to help. I probably wouldn't have to in the future too; there was someone else to help with the preparations now.

I leaned back against the sofa cushion, liking how comfortable the material was, before I heard them talking to each other again. Although I couldn't work out what they were saying, they were trying to keep it as quietly as possible.

"Dinner's ready, Kyouya," Dino said whilst poking his head into the room.

Arching one of my eyebrows, I walked towards the dining table, cursing the fact that there were only four chairs. I sat down across from my mother and, unfortunately, in the seat beside Dino who was just pouring himself a drink.

Picking up my chopsticks, I decided to try and eat as quickly as possible. It was bound to be an awkward meal between the three of us. I hadn't seen Father around the house so I'd quickly assumed he'd went away to work somewhere.

"Sit down already, Dino," Mother called from across the table.

I'd blinked in surprise when a glass of water was placed in front of me before he'd sat down. _He got me one, __too, _I observed before carrying on to eat. Dino was trying too hard to attempt to become friends with me, apparently. That was obvious as he smiled in my direction, I could see the action clearly in my peripheral vision.

"You eat really fast, Kyouya," he said.

_I feel like I'm going to be sick. _"Thanks for the meal," I murmured whilst my chopsticks were placed on top of my plate. I had a quick sip of the water, too, to show I wasn't avoiding it out of spite, before I stood up and made my way out of the room.

"He's never eaten that quickly before," I heard her exclaim. _Thanks for pointing that out. _Walking up to my room, I quickly dived inside to grab a new pair of boxers before making my way to the kitchen. I was lucky that my mother hadn't looked at my clothing before.

Whenever she saw there was a droplet of blood on my uniform or a bruise across my skin, I received a small lecture on violence not being the only option. I had always preferred using actions rather than words to get my message across, though, so that's where our personalities always clashed. Although, explaining that when I was probably an eight-year-old child wasn't successful. As the years had passed and I still dully defended myself with that explanation, I supposed she was slowly learning to accept it.

The hot water splashing against my body felt great, but I didn't want to spend too long in there. I chose to quickly shampoo my hair and brush my teeth—since I'd decided to get it over and done with—at the same time, closing my eyes and attempting not to let the shampoo fall down into them.

Around thirty minutes later I was walking back to my room with a pair of blue boxers on and a towel resting around my shoulders. Grasping the material with one of my hands, I dried my half dry hair quickly as I pushed my door open, my eyes darting around the room for any sign of Dino. I found him quickly, kneeling down onto the floor and placing a white duvet onto the mattress which had acquired a sheet and a pillow within the time I was gone. He hadn't looked up when I'd silently opened the door, but when I'd took a step forward and walked around him, he'd finally noticed me.

Nudging the mattress, that had been placed exactly in the middle of the room again, to the other side I decided to voice out my proposition.

"Stay on your half of the room," I demanded.

Confusion was etched across his face and laced into his voice as he replied. "Your stuff is still on this side, though."

Trying not to sound exasperated, I explained, "When we're both inside, don't come over here."

Dino blinked before asking loudly, "Eh?"

"You heard me."

I didn't know whether or not he'd understood what I'd meant completely, but when I'd sat down on the end of my bed before reaching for a novel, he didn't talk any more. I did take peeks out of the corner of my eye to see what he was doing; it was either preparing his bed or placing some of his articles of clothing into random drawers that he'd found empty. He'd avoided touching my stuff as though they were infected with the plague or he was either smart. _This can work out fine, _I internally mused.

**AN: **Edited, too, to make the mother seem more like Oregano.


	3. Directions

**hinamorimomo13: **Wouldn't you be mean too if you found out you had a brother? D: Oh my, that's a hot idea... Might add that in later on lmfao. I'll credit you, of course. I don't actually like incest that much. I was really creeped out at first o.o Then I read some weird manga and it was cool. I remember looking up on people's reviews for it and the title was 'Is incest really wrong?' My mother saw that and became worried. I have an older brother. :c 6918... incest? I died inside. **Aki: **For different fandoms, there's always a fic where someone accepts their new brother/sister immediately, no questions asked. Makes me go, 'wth?' So I'm glad you liked this. Since I know who you are now, ohoho, I'm grateful you don't mention my stories irl. I'd die. _Die. _Oh, I'll clear this up. **Dino doesn't love Kyouya** yet. o-o It's just friendly~ Yup, I bolded that so other people can see. **I Like To Stalk You: **I needed someone to bam it up to M-rated haha. A reader suggested on MSN that I added it in, so I did. xD Fuwa's sister came up with Kyouya's and I just derped for Dino's. I was hyper. Mmm, incest indeed. ;) **Eyes17k: **Brother Dino's gonna get fooled through this chapter instead. Oho. N'aw, already got a scene in mind for Dino to meet Hibird. Not gonna happen yet, but soon. p: **I Like To Stalk You: **Ohoho, they'll get along soon, in more than one way. ;] I'm really sorry to hear that! I hope she's okay and everything. D: **Face Faith: **Sorry for the long chapter then haha. This one's the shortest yet. Yup, that's how I wanted them to look. xD LOL. Alaude as the father... would've been too weird. I did consider it, but then I was like, 'OH HELL NO.' Herbivore is common... in my mind. LOL. So glad you're enjoying this. It's great to know someone likes it. :D **Face Faith: **Clumsiness is cute, I had to add it in haha. Grah, my beta added in a hyphen instead of a bar. DAMN HER. :O IT's such a nice image to imagine Kyouya in boxers... :c The online conversations are so hard to write lmao. I thought it would be easy, but no! I died inside when I even thought about making them typ lik diz. Or using emoticons. Ugh. Ahh, sorry about that then. D: Idk what else to describe shops smelling like! Lol. **Doesitreallymatter: **Thank you for giving it a try, even though you don't like incest. ^^ I was just trying something different! There's not many online gaming fics and stuff like that lol. **Doesitreallymatter: **Would sex and all kinds of fluff make you forgive Kyouya being a prick? :c No? _Good. _I can't write that. /sob LOL

_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter three—Directions

A groan slipped past my lips as my eyelids fluttered open. There were any rays of light coming through my window—it was still the dead of the night—yet I'd jolted myself awake for some odd reason. I couldn't remember what I'd dreamt of, but the beads of sweat that were clinging onto my forehead were a clear indication that it wasn't anything enjoyable. There wasn't an odd feeling in the bottom of my stomach, meaning that I'd had thoughts that were close to a sexual kind, yet I was still taking in deep breaths as if I had. Letting the covers fall off my body, I sat up in bed, placing my head in my palm as I brushed my bangs out of my face with a sigh. It was still an embarrassing experience to wake up gasping for breath for no particular reason; I felt as though my imagination was trying to hint at something for me. Possibly, I was turning into a herbivore from my lack of self-control when I wasn't conscious.

Pushing the damp strands out of my face, I closed my eyes whilst raising one of my knees up and propping my chin on top of it. It was an odd position, but comfortable in the dark. The only light filling up some of the room, I observed whilst taking in my surroundings, were the small beams of light from the moon and a few lights that were strategically placed outside in the street. It was annoying that my window faced the street; it meant that if I looked out, instead of seeing a garden or something remotely interesting, I saw either cars speeding past or the occasional drunk individual stumbled past in the middle of the night. I turned my head in the direction of my window, only seeing a few of the trees that were high in the sky from my low position. My vision was mostly black apart from the dark green blobs of where I supposed the leaves were. My eyelids were closing themselves again, becoming heavier than usual, when I became aware of someone's soft breathing echoing within the room. I froze on the spot as I listened to the noise, straining my ears to try and make out where it was coming from. Tearing my now wide open eyes away from my window, they darted around the room whilst looking for the source. Due to the lack of light and the speed my eyes were darting around the room, it took me almost a minute to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

Before I could stop myself, his name slipped through my lips. "Dino."

_How could I forget about him? _I could only make out where his head was poking out from, just under his duvet, and yet I was still frozen in my place. The sound of him breathing was making my ears ring. It would've been a good idea to buy a lamp and place it on my desk; that way I could have reached over and illuminated a small portion of my room, just enough to see where I was stepping. If I wanted to get out of bed at that point, there was a possibility that I would step onto Dino and wake him up. Although I was trying to be nice to him—as nice as I could—there was a limit to how much time that meant. When it was probably around three o'clock in the morning, I didn't want him talking to me. The earliest I could deal with would have to have been eight o'clock, just before I walked away to go to school. It was an excuse to get rid of him, after all. On weekends, on the other hand, I didn't know what time he woke up on an average. My own sleeping times were strange; it was either really early that I woke up and stumbled out of bed or I didn't sleep until early in the morning. _I need some sort of a routine, _I told myself. _That way I can avoid him as much as possible. _

Eventually after a few minutes of staring at Dino's sleeping form, I let my body relax and let my back hit against my mattress again. My arms were crossed behind my head as I stared up at my dark ceiling, wide awake despite the early time. I yawned into my hand after a few minutes, trying to think of what to do to occupy my time. Only on a rare occasion could I close my eyes and fall back asleep. Most of the time, when I'd woken up, that was it for me for at least a few hours. Unless I took a nap at an inappropriate time, I was going to drag on through the day and hope I wouldn't yawn too much.

After five minutes of being bored, I sat back up in my bed and ran a hand through my hair. It was far too early to do anything remotely important; I couldn't even be bothered to attempt to walk around Dino's sleeping body and then go downstairs. I would've probably only started to read a novel, too. All the ones I owned I'd read at least twice—nothing extremely interesting that I could do to pass the time. My sleeping habit was another reason why I took up the hobby of gaming. When it was late at night or when no one was awake, I'd reach for my laptop and click onto random websites in hope of finding something to occupy my time with. Eventually, I'd clicked onto a multiplayer online game and found myself amused about the reactions I could spark from people. It was an outlet for my violence as well, but when I felt a frown on my face from losing to someone who had the nerve to childishly taunt me through the internet, I knew I needed to quit. To me, violence was always better in real life, apart from when I received some unfortunate cuts that weren't supposed to have appeared across my skin.

Holding onto the edge of my mattress, my right hand reached out and groped the floor in front of me in search of my laptop. I was sure I'd placed it somewhere near my bed, or on top of my desk, and I was determined to find it as quickly as possible without turning the light on. My fingers were digging uncomfortably into my bed when I'd finally found it. I pulled the laptop out from under my bed quickly, placing it onto my lap before casting a wary glance towards Dino's sleeping form. His position was no reassurance, but the soft breathing that met my ears yet again reassured me that I hadn't woke him up with my movement. He could have just been a heavy sleeper, though. It depended on my mood before I went to sleep whether or not I woke up from a small noise. If I was in a relatively good mood, I could sleep for a few hours even if my mother opened the door. On the unfortunate days where I wanted nothing more than to rip all of the hair out of my scalp, just the sound of someone walking up the stairs made me jerk forward, fully awake within seconds. It was annoying to say the least; if I'd slept for an hour whilst in a bad mood, that was it for me for at least six hours. I'd thought about buying sleeping pills before, but dubbed them too much trouble after finding out that if I didn't want to make a scene, I would have to have a slip signed by a doctor. The only doctor within Namimori when I needed one was someone who refused to treat males. When I'd met him for the first time—by accident—I'd been asked if I was trying to deny my gender by dressing like a boy. Needless to say, instead of an insulting reply he received a sharp jab to the face from my tonfa.

When my laptop screen was becoming increasingly brighter, I lunged for the mute button so the damn start up tone wouldn't echo within the room. I still didn't know what Dino could sleep though; waking him up in the middle of the night with a light illuminating my face meant I couldn't play it off as being asleep. I scooted backwards, still clutching the laptop, until my back hit against the wall beside me. My duvet was placed on top of my bare legs, keeping them warm, whilst I shivered from the cold air hitting my torso. I couldn't do anything about it—getting up and searching for some sort of t-shirt was out of the question. My wardrobe was next to Dino. Hitting him in the face with one of the doors was tempting, but the events that would happen after it weren't.

When the laptop had finally loaded I was yawning openly into my hand. I blinked away the moisture before letting my fingertips press against the keys, searching for something to occupy my time. Curiosity got the better of me after loading up my internet browser. Count Blonde had said he'd finally found something to do last night, but that hadn't meant he wouldn't reply to my last message. It had only been around eight hours ago that I'd said it as well. I assumed he shared the same time zone has me, meaning there was a chance he'd stayed up late.

I blinked in surprise when my assumptions were correct. Although there was only one message, it was better than none.

_Count Blonde—Nami! I think I messed up._

My eyebrows were raised in surprise. I'd hardly known Count Blonde more than two days and from his last message, it sounded as though he was going to ask my opinion on something that had happened. It would have been a lie to say I didn't slam the laptop shut and then place it on the floor again without replying to his message. I was bewildered that he would actually turn to me for help; I hadn't been particularly nice even though I was trying to convince myself to do so. It was a good sign that he deemed me suitable enough to talk to about problems, but it was far too soon. I'd expected such a thing to had happened after a few months or so, not _two _days. I wasn't the type of person to have been dubbed honest enough to have been told problems straight away, that was a ridiculous thought.

On one of the old games I'd seen, there were some players who chose to talk in a chat marked for everyone—so it got posted on everyone's screen unless they chose to turn it off—instead of conversing in private chat. I'd seen from their open conversations that individuals online did in fact spill their life stories out to others on the internet. It was odd to see at first, I'd barely believed my eyes, yet as the years went on I'd grown to accept it. It was amusing to see what kind of stories the spat out at each other, the reactions they received, too. There had been a random player who'd proclaimed they'd lost all of their friends in real life from play too much. The reaction she'd received was absolutely priceless, I even remembered having to cover my mouth with my hand due to the fact I was trying to hold back a laugh. The answer was one along the lines of telling her to attend the gym for a few hours, quit whining like an eight-year-old and then attempt to find pathetic people to talk to her. The way it had been worded was harsh, blunt and hysterical. Similar situations had happened since then on different games, yet the first one I'd seen was definitely the best. The player quitting from rage after swearing was the cherry on top.

I press my body back down onto the mattress, staring back up at my ceiling in boredom. I doubted I'd killed more time than half an hour; the sun still wasn't rising, which meant it was still the dead of the night. The amount of things I could do were definitely increasing and I decided at that moment to go out through the day and buy a small lamp. It would save me a lot of trouble in the long time. Looking at my room in the light would have been a good choice, too, that way I could see where I could step without stepping onto Dino and alerting him that I was awake. Placing my arm over my eyes, I took in a deep breath whilst trying to keep my thoughts under control. I was still surprised from the last message from Count Blonde. My strange reaction could have been from yesterday, too. Dino trying to cover up for my actions had confused me to no end and I found myself furrowing my eyebrows whilst my eyelids were closed. There was absolutely no reason for him to cover up for me. Even if he wanted to get closer to me, lying to our mother wasn't the way to go about it. He'd been far too nice when we were talking, too; especially since I'd lost my temper when he'd first attempted to hug me and then in the supermarket as well. It was ridiculous that I was losing my patience and the composure I'd tried to keep up all of the time over just one event. I should have just pushed him to the side and carried on with my life. It was going to be increasingly difficult with him staying in the same room, though. When I had to attend school again—which meant tomorrow—I couldn't sleep during different times. I would become sluggish if I slept during the day, leaving him to occupy the room at night. My reactions would have been slower, meaning the chance that he could catch me off guard would have been higher. _That's a bad idea, _I told myself.

When I'd taken in another deep breath, I heard a quiet hum echo throughout my room.

Removing my arm from my face, I propped myself up in curiously, straining my ears to make out whatever the sound was.

"—ya."

It wasn't my imagination at that point. I pivoted in my bed, letting my feet hit gently against the floor as I figured the noise was coming from Dino. _Does he talk in his sleep? _I stared down at his sleeping form—or where I thought it was—waiting to see if he spoke again. I'd distinctly heard the last syllable, but that didn't mean I could make out what he was saying as a whole.

"Kyouya," he whispered lowly.

My eyes had widened in surprise when I processed what he'd said. Unfortunately, when I placed my hand over my mouth to stifle my humiliating gasp, I felt that my cheeks had became hotter, too. It was embarrassing that he had the nerve to utter my name without any reason to. He didn't _know _me nor did he have any rights to. I bit down on my bottom lip in horror, trying to keep my irritation at bay as one of my hands clenched into a fist. My resolution would have been put to waste if I got up and hoped to hit where I thought his face was. Instead, I chose to listen to a wise suggestion inside of my mind. I pushed my duvet off of me quickly, placing it carelessly onto the end of my bed, half hanging off from what I could tell. I placed my feet on the floor carefully being making my way towards the door. It was easier said than done—I'd placed my foot down in front of me slowly, prodding the air to see if I was going to hit his mattress or anything remotely similar. I inwardly cringed when I heard Dino mutter something again, this time with less volume than I was used to. Finally, when my hand grasped the cold metal of my door knob, I turned it quickly before practically jumping out of the room. I let my back hit against tithe door as I tried to get my breathing back to normal. I overreacted—I was sure of that—yet at that moment, I deemed it appropriate.

"That idiot," I hissed under my breath.

After running my hand through my hair was more force than necessary, I started my trek downstairs. It was a lot easier than walking through my room; I knew exactly where I was going and where all the steps were located. I turned the light inside my living room on quickly, blinking at the sudden difference in lighting before squinting and settling myself down onto my sofa. I shivered from the cold material, opening my eyes fully after finally adjusting to the light. There wasn't anything particularly interesting inside; just a bookcase in one of the corners and a television placed on a wall. An annoying coffee table was in the middle of the room—the damned thing had attempted to trip me over more than few times. I'd caught myself at the last minute, stabilizing myself and walking away as if nothing had ever happened. Luckily, no one had ever witnessed such an event. I was sure that if my mother had seen it, she would've laughed and then brought the event up whenever it wasn't appropriate. Eventually, I ended up searching through the bookcase, looking for some sort of novel to read. Only a few of them were my own, therefore I had to choose between odd books my mother had bought—some that looked terrifying from the pink covers—or the odd military ones my father tended to read in his spare time. I choose a military one quickly and sat back down on the sofa, the hairs on my body standing up from the cold temperature. I really should have grabbed a shirt of some sort before coming downstairs, or at least sleeping in a pair of pyjamas. Buying a pair would have to come first, though, especially with Dino inside my room from now on. Walking around in my underwear wasn't the best attire if I wanted to keep the upper hand in our relationship.

When I started reading the book, I found out that it was incredibly boring. I couldn't have cared less about the events that someone was exaggerating. After thirty minutes of my eyes darting back and forth across the pages, my eyelids were beginning to droop. It was far too boring to keep my attention piqued.

My eyelids flew open when I felt someone's hands on my bare shoulders. Moving out of their grip and looking up into their curious face, I reacted like a startled cat. A hiss left my throat as I pressed my body back into the cold sofa, noticing that my surroundings were a lot lighter despite the fact that the light had been turned off. My eyebrows were slanted downwards in irritation as I heard a small laugh escape Dino's mouth as he retracted his hands from near me, placing them beside his side.

"Nice sleep, Kyouya?" he asked.

_No. _I frowned before averting my eyes, choosing to stare down at the carpet my feet soon touched. I pushed myself up from the sofa—trying to ignore the fact Dino wasn't moving to let me get out—and squeezed through the small space that was left.

Dino was dressed in different clothes than yesterday; a pair of cargo pants along with a blue t-shirt. They contrasted greatly with his blond hair and making his skin seem to glow compared to the rest of the colours. I shook my head, hating the fact I was partially dressed, before walking away. I heard him laugh to himself again as I excited the room, yet I chose not to look back in irritation. I wasn't going to show him I felt insecure as a musical chuckle left his lips; my body language probably already told him enough. I closed the door to my bedroom quickly after not hearing any footsteps following me. Hopefully, that meant that Dino was going to stay downstairs for a long enough time for me to get dressed. I found my clothing quickly; my usual outfit of black trousers and then a white shirt. I slipped the buttons between their allocated slots quickly, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to place my jacket on my shoulders or not. Yesterday, I had to come back upstairs to retrieve it after deciding not to wear it. I didn't want to repeat the same mistake, so grudgingly, I slipped it on and shuddered at the cold feel of the material against my shoulders. It would've been a good idea to place it on top of a radiator to heat up, same with my other clothes. Shivering to myself, I ran a hand through my hair before giving up, not bothering to look in the mirror to see how many of the strands were sticking up. I could tell by the amount that were stabbing into my hand when I held it a few centimetres away that I needed to brush my hair after I'd showered.

When my eyes darted around the room to see if Dino had touched anything inappropriate, I breathed a sigh of frustration when I saw where I'd placed my laptop I'd became embarrassed through the night. When I'd carelessly dropped it onto the floor, I'd placed it upside down and I could tell by the green light that I could faintly see blinking along the side, it was still turned on. That meant that Dino didn't snoop around my room and look at any of my possessions. _Wise choice, _I thought whilst nodding to myself. I picked up my fallen laptop and sat down on the floor, my back pressed against my back as I opened up the screen. I was more than surprised to see that when I'd reloaded the page, I'd gotten another message. Even though I hadn't replied to the last—instead choosing to freak out—Count Blonde was still eager to trust me.

"He's a fool," I mused.

_Count Blonde_—_I definitely messed up. Can I hear your opinion on this, Nami? I want to know how you're doing as well, of course._

My thoughts from earlier were absolutely correct. Apparently, Count Blonde did trust me enough to ask my opinion on what had happened. The fact that he'd brought the topic up again, especially seeing my lack of response, meant that as well. He really was a fool and yet, I found myself typing a response.

_Namibird_—_Just spit it out._

It was blunt, but more than enough to show I was slightly curious. I was, after all it wasn't everyday a stranger chose to open up to _me _of all people. The nicest thing I'd said so far to him was asking what he was doing, if I recalled our monotone conversations correctly. I turned the laptop off quickly after that, placing it on top of my desk before leaving the room, still not bothering to look in the mirror to see how badly my hair was sticking out that morning. I'd glanced in the corner of my screen before pressing down on the power button; it was just after eleven o'clock in the morning, meaning that I'd slept more than enough. _I slept far too long, _I thought to myself whilst yawning into my hand. It was possible to become sleepy after sleeping too long, which usually happened when I had a nap through the middle of lessons. It wasn't as though there was anything remotely interesting to keep my attention on therefore, I chose to casually sleep on my arm or on top of the rooftop. The gentle breeze up there refreshing, also the lack of individuals that travelled up there, too. Only the rare few came stumbling up and that was usually just to gulp in the fresh air. I didn't say a word most of the time, choosing to avert my eyes and wait for them to wander off back to their group of friends. The longest someone other than myself stayed on top of there was usually around ten minutes.

I peered over the banister as I was making my way down the stairs, checking to see if anyone was inside the kitchen yet. I didn't know whether my parents would have been disappearing for the day—usually, for one night, they disappeared and travelled somewhere and stayed in a hotel, which was usually a Friday, yet that week they hadn't. It probably was because Dino had came along, finally disturbing the routine we'd had for months on end. When I heard noises coming from the living, I walked across the hallway slowly, trying to make as less noise as possible. I was in an irritated mood from not only from Count Blonde actually trusting me, a stranger on the internet, but also Dino muttering my name in his sleep. Not only were they both embarrassing, they made me consider what exactly I was doing wrong.

_Am I coming across as a pushover? _I asked myself whilst opening the lid to the breadbin.

Eating my slice of toast quickly, without bothering to add any toppings, I was deciding what to do with my day whilst leaning back against the countertop. From the voices I could hear from the living room, I figured that Dino would be coming into the kitchen at some point with our mother to make breakfast. I washed my hands afterwards, making sure that all of the crumbs from my slice of toast were off of my body and clothes before walking back out into the hallway. I strained my ear as I walked past the living room again, that time distinctly hearing Dino laugh.

"You wouldn't believe what he did _next!_" I heard Mother say from inside the same room.

Inwardly cringing, I trailed my hand up the banister whilst retreating to my bathroom to quickly brush my teeth. By her tone of voice and the warm atmosphere I could sense from even being outside in the hallway, I knew what kind of story she was sharing with Dino. It was definitely one revolving around the family; I'd heard her utter the same words on the phone to one of her friends, before my name was mentioned and along with my father's. It was odd, yet I chose not to let my curiosity get the best of me. It was the best choice to simply ignore what nonsense she was muttering, moving on with my life and focusing my attention on bigger and better things. Her laugh echoed throughout the house before I stepped foot onto the second floor, still shaking my head at her antics. She was definitely in one of her younger moods—laughing whenever it was appropriate and then becoming optimistic.

"Strange woman," I muttered under my breath before I made my way to the bathroom. I pushed my teeth quickly, trying to ignore the burn of the toothpaste being rubbed into my gums when I pushed too hard. As I was wiping my mouth afterwards, I heard a knock on the room. Placing the towel back down, I turned towards the door curiously, arching one of my eyebrows in interest as I saw the knob turning by itself. _He's coming in, _I observed.

Just as I'd expected, Dino was standing at the door, his right hand holding onto the doorknob whilst he looked towards me.

"Kyouya," he acknowledged me.

My hand which was gripping the towel, on top of the countertop, became tighter as my eyes narrowed a small amount. "Yes?"

"I thought you went back to sleep," he murmured. "Good morning."

Bemused, I returned the greeting. "Morning." I was sure when I'd muttered my greeting that I'd furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

Dino looked as though he was debating something, wondering whether or not to say it as he avoided eye contact. He wasn't moving from the doorway, meaning I couldn't walk past him as rudely as possible. _That's not what I want to do, _I tried to convince myself. When he bit down softly onto his bottom lip, I was sure he was debating something with himself.

"What do you want?" I pressed.

"Well," he trailed off, his eyes darting to be as he pronounced his syllable.

For some reason or another, his irides were a bright shade of sienna, a lot brighter than I recalled them the day before. "Well?"

"I need to enrol at your school."

_I should have seen this coming, _I thought bitterly to myself. "What's your point?" I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral to mask my irritation. Dino attending the same school as me meant I couldn't avoid him as much as I'd wanted. Unfortunately, when I walked to school there was a chance that I'd see him there or he'd even attempt to walk by my side. That would've been the most humiliating situation; if Dino wanted other people to acknowledge our relationship, I was going to start hating my life even more.

"Mom said to ask you to show me the way," he explained softly.

I tried to reject him quickly without actually having to say it aloud. "Ask her for directions."

Dino's next statement had me wanting to slam my palm into my face from frustration. "It's only the two of us home today." The chances of ditching Dino and finding something interesting to do outside of the house for at least ten hours was minimal. "Please?"

"Why?" _Why can't you just attempt to find your own way? _My expression was incredulous as I observed Dino fidgeting upon his feet. It looked ridiculous, especially in addition to the fact he'd only looked towards me a few times. I could understand if he was feeling awkward around me—I certainly was around him, a lot more than usual—but that didn't mean he could spout nonsense without having the nerve to attempt to convince. I didn't welcome half-hearted comments.

"It's a chance to spend time together."

At that moment, it was my turn to avert my eyes.

Looking down at the floor, trying to ignore the fact I could feel his gaze on my face, finally, I refused. "No."

Surprise was evident in Dino's voice. "Eh?"

"No," I repeated, this time barely restraining myself from hissing in protest.

My head snapped back up into place when I heard his feet hitting against the tiles of the bathroom. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief when I saw Dino stepping in front of me, his body barely a metre away as he stared down at me. I tried to keep my expression neutral again, but I was sure my attitude was starting to crack through my mask and show clearly upon my face. My eye was close to twitching and I thought that if he spouted out more nonsense, I was going to pull some of the strands from my scalp out.

I inwardly cringed when I saw Dino start to open his mouth, his expression was one of determination as he proclaimed, "I want to get to know you, Kyouya."

I blinked in surprise, straining my ears to see if I'd misheard.

"I'm your brother," he pointed out softly.

That was when my hold on my irritation snapped. I clenched my hands into fists as I stared up at Dino, my eyes narrowed almost to the points of slits. Through clenched teeth, I spat, "Just because we're related doesn't mean I acknowledge you."

He opened his mouth to respond, but I quickly cut in with a low voice.

"I'd rather you didn't appear before me ever again."

"Kyou—" His right hand had been raised and moving towards me, but when it entered my personal bubble—that had already been violated more than enough times by him—I grabbed it angrily. Grinding my nails into his flesh, I glared at him through gritted teeth.

"Do not touch me, Herbivore," I hissed.

"Wait," he said.

My nails pressed in deeper to his skin and finally, I was rewarded by a painful gasp coming out of his mouth. His eyes widened as his eyes flickered between looking at my face and then my hand that was damaging his skin. For some reason or another, he let me grind into his skin, ignoring the fact he could have easily raised his other hand up and removed my own. It was as though he believed it was best to let me do what I pleased and if his attitude was going to be like this—one of a pushover—I wasn't going to get through a single day without being annoyed. It was another reason not to accept him into my life; a herbivore wasn't welcome.

"You're not worth my time," I spat whilst removing my hand.

As I walked past him briskly, I did see that Dino had raised his other hand up in what I thought was an attempt to grab me. He stopped halfway through the motion, dropping his arm back down to his side before muttering something under my breath. I clucked my tongue in annoyance before slamming the door behind me, choosing to continue walking down the stairs at my fast pace and strain my ears to see if he was coming out of the bathroom. By the time I'd reached the ground level, I couldn't hear anything. I shot an irritated glance back up the stairs before pouring myself a glass of orange juice, gulping the liquid down quickly before placing it within the soapy water within a tub in the sink. It was a good placement—I simply let it soak for a few minutes as I cleared my head outside in the cold air before washing it up properly. My annoyance levels were back to normal and I was shivering from the sudden change in temperature as I dried the glass before placing it away again.

Finally with nothing left to do I gripped the side of the countertop, my fingers curling around the edge, as my thoughts drifter back to my first encounter of the day with Dino. "That didn't go well," I mused.

I wanted to toy with him, possibly have him twisted around my little finger, so life would have been easier. By reacting to his small comments, over exaggerating my reaction and then bruising another part of his body was definitely not the way I should have gone about it. If anything, I only fuelled the awkward atmosphere between us even more so than usual. I closed my eyes in exasperation with myself, letting a small sigh slip through my lips before I ran a hand through my hair. I needed to rethink how I was going to act around Dino—if my reactions were going to get out of hand, along with my temper, then it was definitely going to hard sharing a house with him. When our parents went away again, I was sure that I was going to be hiding within my room and trying to stay out of his presence as much as possible. The fact that I felt as though he deserved an apology for me acting as though I was bipolar was getting on my nerves, too. He'd randomly came into my life—without any warning at all—and had suddenly wanted to get to know me better. I could tell he was being sincere with his words and yet, they had only made my mood worse. It was still humiliating to know how quickly he'd accepted me into his life whilst I was still acting crazy. _He's probably thinking I have something wrong with me, _I thought bitterly to myself. _I need to do something._

The question was what I could do. Suddenly changing my attitude, whilst cursing myself inside my head, and then approaching him would only make things worse. My tactic of reminding myself to calm down wasn't working either.

After muttering a curse under my breath, I turned around and started to walk towards the front door. It was definitely a good choice that I'd worn my jacket. I wanted to get out of the house before I could catch sight of Dino again and there was a chance that he was seated inside _our _room, doing something I didn't know of. _I swear, if he touches my stuff... _

As my hand was on the doorknob, I stopped in my tracks.

"What am I doing?" I asked myself.

It was as though I was running away from him. Although I was, in reality, but in my mind I wanted to believe that I was the one coming out on top. I let my hand fall back to my side as I thought about what I was going to do. Stepping outside meant defeat for me at that moment, but going back upstairs and initiating a conversation with Dino was even worse.

"Damnit."

The simplest way to make it as though I won was to simply give him directions. That was what Dino had came to me for; if I supplied some sort of map and placed in within his hands—even if it was a mangled attempt at one or similar to that of a bad treasure map—he would've taken it and walked out. A smirk spread across my lips as I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, quickly scrawling across the sheet before trying to stop my hand from crushing it as I walked back towards the stairs. I was gnawing on the inside of my cheek as I walked up, straining my ears to see if I could hear anything. My first stop was our bedroom. I didn't bother knocking against the wood, simply grasping the doorknob and twisting it, swinging the door open and letting my eyes scan the room. I blinked in surprise as I saw where Dino was. He wasn't sitting on my bed or even on my side, instead perched on the end of his mattress with a laptop upon his lap. I quirked an eyebrow as I saw he hadn't looked in my direction when I'd came inside too immersed in typing something on the keyboard. His face was towards me, but I could only see the back of the silver laptop.

_He's definitely not paying attention,_ I observed. I'd been inside the room for at least two minutes already, yet he hadn't looked up once.

"Dino," I hissed.

His reaction was amusing. He'd jumped before snapping his head up, his eyes widening as he stared up at me. I arched an eyebrow before letting the piece of paper fall to the floor, not bothering to hand it over to him before turning around.

His confused expression as he let his eyes dart between the piece of paper and me meant I had to explain. "You'll find your way with that."

I shut the door quickly behind me, barely making out the words Dino had said in reply.

_That means I wasn't running away, right? _

When Dino had left the house, I was inside the kitchen feeding Hibird. He hadn't said goodbye or even said he was leaving, which was a relief. That meant I didn't have to strain myself to reply with some nonsense. He'd left quickly—I'd seen through the window that he was walking fast whilst clutching the piece of paper on his hand.

A small chuckle left my throat as I remembered that I'd given him the wrong directions. Dino was going to end up in a street littered with shops instead of the school.

**AN: **school chapter is next. More online conversations, Dino meeting Hibird and then some time spent together. I don't know when the update will be.


	4. Chicanery

**Shadowcast321: **Ohoho, but he enjoyed sending Dino the other way. Pack it in and stop being mean? Should I make them lovey dovey and just plan bleh? :D No, I thought not. I don't think I could write that. I'm not sure who Count Blonde is either. I think I'm retarded. :c **hinamorimomo13: **Haha, unfortuantely no, Dino doesn't know that Namibird is Kyouya. I looked at my mama's bookcase and just saw pink books. ): Scarred for life. LOL! You noticed the boxer thing? Well, my older brother only wears boxers. My friends, who are mostly guys, only wear boxers, too. It's just a guy thing, I suppose. p: I did my research! I even asked my gay best friend to describe masturbating to me. Uck. **Eyes17k: **LOL. Some old perverted lady will kidnap Dino? That would've been good to put in. Damn. **Doesitreallymatter: **Aww, Princess, it's your old anon name! So nostalgic. c: I don't really know how to write a bad sibling relationship. I'm great friends with mine haha. **ezzelin: **No, you have not told me that. But I'm happy to hear it, thank you~ ono; Hmm, hmm. I used to have a coffee table growing up, but I never tripped over it. I just don't like them. They're _ugly. _And ugliness trips people over. So it works, bro. **Face Faith: **Haha, gotcha. Sorry about that. xD; Glad you're liking this. Ohoho~ Caught you by surprise. I feel good now. c: **RuriKamiya:** Lol, you seem a bit excited. :D **RuriKamiya: **Ah, heck yes. Trying to convert you with incest. /bricked **SoulReaper Rukia: **You're an older sister? :o Oooh! I'm only a younger sister, so I don't really know. OTL **Paradoxismminant: **Ah, sorry for it being confusing. I tried to make it so it wasn't. D: **Paradoxismminant: **Parents are always dumb. :c **Paradoxismminant: **Awkward's always fun~

_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter four—Chicanery

Dino took hours to come back from his quest to find the school. He looked as though was pouting when his hair was soaked as he stepped through the doorway. It wasn't my fault that it had rained; I didn't plan to trick him after checking the weather that day. It was purely spur of the moment. It certainly got him out of my hair for that day though. He simply did whatever he did usually, leaving the house again a few hours later after eating something for dinner, while I did random things. From boredom, I'd managed to locate the polish I'd bought a few months ago and shined my tonfas for a good half an hour. Then I got bored again. The day wasn't eventful, but I was glad that Dino had disappeared somewhere. It was nice; I didn't have to put up with his silly smiling face as we were alone until our parents eventually came back.

The fact that I'd acknowledged inside of my mind that I shared my parents with someone was odd. That didn't mean that I recognized him enough to share my bedroom with him; it was still _my _room, he was simply invading my space. It would probably take a few days of threats and awkward conversations until he decided to sleep in the bathroom like he should have done since the moment he came to live with us. I knew that I needed to change my attitude towards him; to become colder so he'd finally leave me alone—more than he had done that day—yet I didn't want to at the same time. If he was supposed to be my brother, since there were clearly _my _father's genes inside of him, then he had to have been somewhat similar to me. I had the same blood running through my veins, after all. But that small and absolutely tiny detail didn't mean I had to shower him with friendliness. It might havescared him off instead, but not with the reaction I wanted. By him either annoyed at me or grunting in pain would've been the best.

I'd browsed the internet to look for something to do that night, simply sitting on top of my bed before I gave up. I ended up doing the homework that was needed for tomorrow, just to get a certain someone off of my back so I didn't need to listen to someone lecturing me. When I'd crawled under my duvet soon after, making sure to feed Hibird before I did so and he flew off somewhere, it only took about half an hour until Dino came into the room. I pretended to be asleep as he walked around, trying to see through the darkness instead of turning on the light. It was amusing to see him stub his toe against the wall by accident, cursing under his breath before checking to see if I'd woken up. It was odd that he was concerned, looking in my direction to see if I was disrupted by him barging into the room. He had the courtesy not to turn on the light, yet he still didn't knock on the door. _Maybe he knew I was in bed? _I had thought to myself before promptly falling asleep.

When I abruptly woke up the next morning—when the sky was still dark and the clouds were stained with the night—there was no Dino inside of my room. I only noticed as I shifted around on the mattress, trying to find a comfortable position before attempting to fall back asleep. I caught sight of his duvet messily spread out across the mattress, yet no body on top of it. As I closed my eyes and willed myself to go to sleep, since there was surely a few hours before I had to make my way to school, I knew it was a futile effort. A sigh slipped through my lips as I pushed myself up from the mattress, my duvet falling down to pool on my lap. I ran a hand through my hair, making sure to push my bangs out of my face as I thought about what I could do. I wasn't interested in reading the novel I had last night; it was far too boring to get into. If I got dressed and left the house that early in the morning, I wouldn't find any entertainment either. I would've only walked into drunkards who were still ambling down the streets.

It only took me a few minutes to reach across to grasp the laptop that I'd placed on the floor previously. Curiosity go the better of me—since I hadn't checked the night before to see if Count Blonde had replied, I wanted to know what he'd messed up on. Something weird enough to comment about it to me; that was surely worth my time for a few minutes.

I opened up the web browser quickly, clicking to see what messages he'd left. I was bemused when I saw there were five, all from him ranging from different times.

_Count Blonde—It doesn't really matter any more. I'm sorry for bringing it up; it was spur of the moment typing, I guess. _

_Count Blonde—Nami? Are you there?_

My lips curled into a frown when I realized he was still convinced that I was a female called Nami. "Fool," I muttered.

_Count Blonde—I know what you're doing. You're being silent so I'll say it. I know that tactic; don't think I haven't tried it myself before._

_Count Blonde—You're probably staring at your screen, right? It would be more effective in real life._

_Count Blonde—I'll add an embarrassing honorific onto your name, Nami. It's getting lonely typing to myself all day. I thought we were best friends._

He was an idiot. There was no doubt about it—like most blonde's, apart from my father, the damn guy talking to me on the internet was an idiot. I could tell it was sarcasm at the end of his last message, yet the fact he still wanted to talk to me was ridiculous. Maybe it was just to kill some time, that was the only reason I was replying to him. He hadn't annoyed me that badly yet and with the way things were going, I could have coaxed him into doing whatever I wanted. The idiot thought I was a girl after all; it couldn't have been too hard to get him to do something else. I hadn't asked what other games he'd played too; stealing items from him giving me his password would've been nice.

_Namibird—Thank you for the spam. It's much appreciated, Herbivore. _

Due to the fact I couldn't think of what else to type, my sarcasm coming out instead and getting rid of my ideas, I chose to flex my fingers out in front of me. After that, I stretched my arms over my head, getting rid of the kinks of my back before falling back down to lie on the mattress. The laptop was still awkwardly placed in my lap, heating up my body through the duvet. I arched my legs, my feet firmly placed on mattress, so the device ended up resting against my legs and at an angle I could still see it lying down. It was an annoying position for my neck, but a few minutes like that couldn't have hurt.

_Count Blonde—I don't think my name's 'Herbivore', Nami. _

I blinked in surprise when he'd answered immediately, the message coming only a few minutes after I'd typed my own. He'd said before that he lived in the same time zone as I did—that meant he was up at a ridiculously early time as well. There was a chance he was some old man who'd gotten carried away watching some degrading program and ended up still on the computer instead of inside his bed.

_Namibird—You're weak therefore you're a herbivore, dumbass._

My logic never failed. By process of elimination, it was easy to tell who the carnivores of Namimori were. If Count Blonde ever came in the area, he would've been eaten alive. He was a dunce.

_Count Blonde—You need a nickname for me, huh? Just go with Count._

Calling him Count would've been embarrassing to do. Referring to him inside of my mind as _Count _as well meant that I'd acknowledged him. He was merely someone to entertain me, not someone important.

_Namibird—Take out the o and it's perfect for you._

_Count Blonde—You're rather feisty this morning. Haven't you just woken up?_

_Same back to you, _I thought bitterly. I wasn't being _feisty, _merely insulting him. If he couldn't tell what I was doing, I was beginning to become just a little bit worried about the random person I'd found to talk to on the internet. I knew there were weird people out there—of course, I'd came across them, too—but this was starting to become a little odd. _Maybe he's homeschooled? _That was an option. He didn't know how to interact with people so by typing, things only became worse.

_Namibird—Yeah; I couldn't get back to sleep. _

That message was too honest. Before I got the chance to delete it, he'd replied again.

_Count Blonde—Same. Why couldn't you sleep? I'm too nervous._

_Namibird—I don't know. Nervous? You're too weak then. Suck it up and be a man._

_Count Blonde—Kind as always. I'm not as weak as you think I am, just a bit scared, I guess._

My left eyebrow was gently arched as I typed quickly, the sound of my fingertips pressing against the buttons filling the room. There were a few chirps from the birds outside coming through the window, yet the noises were muffled. I could see a few beams of light coming through the door as well, my eyes trailing to the corner of my laptop to prove that it was definitely later in the morning by that point in time. I'd already been talking to the dunce for an hour despite the fact the replies were relatively quick. Only about five minutes between each were good—if there were an hour difference, I would've became bored.

_Namibird—Why would you be scared? Just laugh it off like you do my insults._

I frowned as I saw the time. It was six o'clock in the morning yet I was still in my boxers instead of getting dressed. I sat up normally, the laptop falling onto the mattress as I read his next reply.

_Count Blonde—I'm starting a new school today. I only know two people._

_Namibird—Two's better than none. _

The laptop was left alone as I got out of bed, ignoring the device for the next few minutes. I pulled out my uniform quickly, making sure that the shirt was clean and a nice shade of white before slipping my arms through the sleeves. I buttoned up the shirt quickly, leaving only the top one undone, before I walked back over to my bed. Perching myself on the end, I refreshed the page to see his answer.

_Count Blonde—I've only known one for a few hours and the other hates me. It's not going to go well. _

_Namibird_—_Stop having a pity party. I don't have any friends. Deal with it._

I slipped my trousers on after that, my socks too before I was interested in his answer. I didn't know why I had been as honest as I was, yet it didn't seem to matter telling him. By Count Blonde knowing that information didn't harm me any way, he wasn't there to taunt me with it either. The most that could happen was him laughing to himself that early in the morning, possibly waking up his family in the process.

_Count Blonde_—_I'm your friend, silly. Did you forget that? _

My eyebrow had become arched from his comment, completely full of nonsense.

_Namibird_—_You're not my friend. You never will be._

_Count Blonde_—_Denial is the first step. You never know; next week you could be my best friend. We seem to talk enough for it to happen._

My lips were turned down into a scowl as I typed my reply. I denied his predictions quickly, grinding my teeth together when he it could happen again. When I pointed out I was only talking to him, still, for some form of amusement, Count Blonde had taken it the wrong way. He claimed it was an attraction of sorts—that we were meant to talk to each other since we got along so easily. When I pointed out I hadn't exactly been friendly, he laughed it off as a defence mechanism. The male was a _fool. _I knew that for sure at that point.

_Count Blonde_—_What's the skirt length there? I don't know what to expect._

_Namibird_—_Short enough. _

It was ridiculous how short some of the girl's skirts were; when they walked up the stairs, they had to place their hands on their backside so the material didn't flutter in the wind and cause everyone to see their underwear. The few girls that did wear their skirts properly, however, were bullied. It was an odd world. When I was about to reply to him again, since I'd forgotten that he still thought I was a girl—he was surely an idiot—he'd already replied.

_Count Blonde_—_If anyone looks up your skirt, I bet you kick them in the face, right?_

"My skirt is nonexistent, dumbass," I muttered under my breath.

_Namibird_—_No one looks up my skirt._

His reply didn't come after that, so I ended up cleaning out my email inbox. It was full of alerts telling me he had replied, meaning I had to scroll through a few pages just to be free of all of the numbers popping up. A frown was featured on my lips as the bedroom door opened for the first time that morning, the lack of knocking already telling me who it was. I didn't look up from the screen as I was perched on the end of my bed when Dino came in. He was humming softly to himself, though, obviously in a good mood.

"Good morning, Kyouya," he greeted cheerfully, the smile obvious in his voice. I blinked in surprise before looking at him discreetly, blanching when I realized he was only in a towel that was wrapped loosely around his hips. The question that was running through my mind at that moment was whether or not he had any shame. I averted my eyes when I heard the shuffling of clothing, choosing to stare determinedly at the screen in front of me. Even though I only had the desktop showing, I was going to look up to see my _brother _undressing. I wasn't comfortable enough to have been left in the same room with him, yet he was casually walking around practically naked without a care in the world. "How are you?" he asked as he slipped on some clothing.

"Annoyed," I replied curtly, hoping that it would get him off of my back. Instead, I heard him mutter something under his breath before it became muffled by the shuffling of clothing again.

"Why are you annoyed?" he asked, his footsteps echoing inside of the room. I shook my head at his tone; Dino was still being far too friendly. I couldn't snap at him for being too comfortable. Dino was supposed to live here after all, just because I didn't like him didn't mean he was going to be kicked out. I hit the power button quickly, closing the laptop before leaving it on top of my unmade bed. Frowning to myself, I looked up to see that Dino was properly dressed finally, his uniform matching mine slightly. Apart from the jacket that was placed upon my shoulders, Dino had slipped on a dark blue sleeveless sweater. "Have I done something wrong again?" he questioned quickly, taking a step towards me. "Although I don't understand what I did before."

"Don't talk to me," I growled, walking past him towards the door. Dino sighed from behind me, not following after like I'd expected him to. I merely shrugged it off of my shoulders before descending the stairs, trying to wipe the frown off of my face as I left our home quickly. I didn't need to bring a bag with me to go to school—all the necessary equipment was kept at school, inside of my desk. It was helpful that I didn't need to change rooms often, only on the fairly rare occasion where there was a substitute teacher. I didn't need to worry about anyone stealing my stuff either; they weren't stupid enough to do that. One male in particular liked to misplace a few of my items, though, yet I was sure I could scare him off easily.

It took roughly twenty minutes to walk to the high school. Dino hadn't appeared at any point at that time, but that was surely after learning not to ask me for directions. I smirked to myself as I thought back to yesterday—it was good that he'd learned that I didn't want to be with him at all. If it was a small conversation in the mornings, I could deal with that.

If he kept his clothes on, too, would make our relationship less strained.

I slumped down on my desk at the back of the room quickly, briefly glaring at the one beside me, before I fell asleep again. It was only around seven o'clock in the morning at that point, so it couldn't have hurt to nap for a little while.

When the sound of groups laughing drifted in through the windows I groaned quietly to myself before pushing myself up from the desk. I left the classroom quietly, walking for a few minutes before I climbed the stairs towards the rooftop. It was one of the areas where I could have peace; not many of the students ventured up there through lessons, through breaks as well. It was a safe haven of sorts, considerably quieter than the rest of the school. I'd turned the corner quickly, eyeing the railings for a few moments before I shrugged. I had time to look over them later; at that moment catching up on my sleep seemed the most important. My body was resting against the wall out of sight of anyone who ventured through the door after a few minutes. My lips were curled down into a frown as I adjusted myself, trying to ignore that my phone was vibrating within my pocket.

The next time I was stirred into consciousness, it wasn't by a voice I could recognize.

"Did you see him?" a girl asked, her voice high-pitched. I winced from the volume before breathing a sigh of relief when I opened my eyes. She wasn't beside me; instead, most like by the door. That meant I didn't have to put up with seeing her annoying facial expressions as well.

"Calm down, Haru_-chan_," a second female replied, her voice thankfully not as high as the others. "Do you mean the new student?"

"Yup," Haru replied, excitement clear within her voice. I quirked an eyebrow at their conversation, not having been woken up by nonsense such as that before. "The blond-haired guy."

My eyebrow lost its posture. "Dino," I muttered to myself.

"Yeah, I saw him."

"Haru didn't know we were getting a new student, a guy, too." The smile was evident in Haru's voice. "He's different."

"Different?" the second enquired, her voice soft. "Does that mean you're over your previous crush?"

"Crush?" Haru scoffed. "That was _love, _Kyouko_-chan_."

I had no idea who Kyouko and Haru were and with the way they sounded, I didn't want to go. I groaned softly as I stretched my arms in front of me, getting ready to push myself up from the floor. My mood was considerably better than before I came onto the rooftop. If students were already talking about Dino and becoming interested in him, that meant he was being accepted. My lips curled into a smirk when I realized he would be preoccupied with other people, out of my hair for hours on end. _Perfect. _

"It still is love!" Haru continued her voice louder. I shuddered at the image of her defending herself, the appearance I'd started to imagine repulsive. I had to guess what year she was in and by the high-pitched voice, I had to assume she was in mine—she was a first year. "Haru's only looking at another guy; _not _cheating."

"It's not cheating, Haru_-chan_." Kyouko laughed. "He doesn't even know you like him."

"It wouldn't be that way if Hibari_-san_ wasn't so hard to approach."

My hands were brushing the dirt off my body when she said that. I froze, blinking in confusion when I processed what she said again. _That's my name... _"Please no," I whispered to myself, grimacing when I realized where their conversation was going. Of course I'd had girls confessing to me, but I always rejected them. I hadn't replied many of their names, either. If Haru was one of them, she was rejected for a reason. Yet it seemed like she hadn't worked up the confidence—which was a good thing, in my eyes—and chose to keep it to herself and her friend. I ran my fingers through my bangs when I realized the only way to exit to go to the classroom would have been to walk past the two girls.

Class was surely over for an hour or so; I could hear various amount of students laughing and talking. That meant it was lunch, usually. I'd managed to sleep for a few hours, which was good.

"You're only in the class next to him, it couldn't hurt to try and talk to Hibari_-san_."

My patience finally snapped. I growled under my breath before walking around the corner, trying to ignore the shocked gasp from the two girls before walking through the door. I could hear Haru produce an odd noise—somewhat a hybrid of a squeak and a squawk—when I was walking down the steps. Haru didn't seem like someone I had to worry about; she didn't run after me when she caught sight. I shuddered thinking of the scene, trying to ignore the shiver that went down my spine, before I stepped into the classroom. No one was inside, but I could clearly see that students had left their bags on their desk. I settled myself down in my seat, glaring at the one beside me quickly, before I closed my eyes. I knew I wouldn't fall asleep again, but it was a way to pass time.

When someone opened the door to the classroom, I pretended to be asleep. It wasn't successful, though; when they pressed their finger into my cheek, I opened my eyes in annoyance. I pushed myself up quickly, irritation clear across my face before I blinked.

Dino was sitting on top of the desk beside me—the one I'd been glaring at previously—and his lips were curled into a grin. "Hey, Kyouya."

"Why are you here?" I asked quickly, my gaze scrutinizing as I looked at him. Dino should have been talking to the students in his class, making friends at least. Not being in my empty classroom with me, much less disturbing my sleep. _And here I thought he was considerate. _

"I wanted to see you." He smiled. "Are you okay now?"

"Okay now?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow. "When was I not okay?"

"You were annoyed this morning," he pointed out, raising his finger in my direction as he said so. "So I got worried. It's only natural, right?"

"It's not natural," I denied, my voice becoming low. I couldn't stop my agitation blending in with my tone. "You shouldn't be here. Go talk with the other herbivores; get out of my sight." My own eyes widened when I saw Dino blink, his smile faltering when he'd processed my words. I'd expected him to laugh it off, like he'd done with almost everything I said, but apparently not.

He muttered something under his breath that I couldn't catch. When he had said it, he'd averted his eyes, too. I couldn't tell what he was thinking due to the fact I couldn't look into his eyes awkwardly, but I knew one thing; Dino wasn't as much as a fool as I thought. The serious expression upon his face didn't suit him. When he looked back at me, his narrow eyebrows were slanted down, a glint within his sienna irides that I couldn't place. "I just wanted to see if you're fine," he finally said.

"It's none of your concern," I stressed. "Why are you bothering?" As Dino didn't answer, I decided that it was good that no one was inside the classroom. I didn't want anyone to know I was related to Dino, much less on somewhat friendly terms with him. "I'm _never _going to see you as an older brother."

"What do you see me as then?"

My head wasn't turned to see who was walked through the open door at that point. I'd opened my mouth to reply Dino, with an honest answer, for once, but a groan slipped through my lips instead. The person who had entered the room had placed their elbows upon my shoulders automatically, causing me to lose balance almost and jerk forward. I knew who it was immediately.

"Oh?" he mock gasped. "You aren't cheating on me with some blonde, are you, Kyouya?" Mukuro pressed his elbows further into me; his chest collided with my back as he leaned over. I groaned in annoyance as I pushed myself back to keep my balance, his chin landing to rest on top of my head. My hands knocked him off of me after that, my eyes narrowing as Mukuro merely smirked at me.

He was the one who sat at the desk beside me; the male who had been harassing me for almost ten years. I just couldn't get rid of him at all. I eyed him suspiciously, noticing that his irides were heterochromatic again. It was confusing, to say the least. He'd never explained why the right was a shade of scarlet with a kanji character instead of a pupil while the other was cerulean. I'd been convinced for years—still was—that he simply had contacts. His hair was a darker shade of cerulean, parted in the middle with some bangs sweeping into his face that were chin-length. Most of his hair was short and reaching just below his ears apart from the damn awful strands by the crown of his head that he hair sprayed up. He thought it was a fashion trend for an odd reason. His smirk was almost permanently across his face, the lightly tanned skin looked significantly darker next to my own pale shade.

"I'm not _cheating, _Mukuro," I replied. "As if I'd let you touch me intimately."

That was when I remembered Dino was seated on Mukuro's desk. I glanced at him curiously, waiting to see what reaction he would have.

"I'm Kyouya's—" he'd started, but my glare quickly cut him off before he continued. I didn't want anyone to know he was my brother, much less Mukuro or all people.

"Boyfriend?" Mukuro supplied, laughing afterwards while taking a step back. His finger was dramatically placed on his chin as his eyes darted back from between us both. Dino's expression was still serious, his lips not curled into an amused smile as he watched Mukuro as well. I was merely irritated from being pushed forward. "I never knew you were this naughty, Kyouya."

"Not my boyfriend, Mukuro," I groaned. "Just an idiot who happens to be in here." I'd paused eyeing his smirk before adding, "Much like you."

He laughed, his hand falling from his face. Oddly enough, he placed it by his heart instead, his other arm becoming raised for effect. "You're so kind. You open up to me more every day."

"You're getting closer to being killed every day," I grunted, turning back around in my seat to face my desk again. I ignored the Dino's curious gaze on my face, choosing to rest my head in my arms again. Although I was still looking at the interaction between the two males in the room, they'd suddenly lost interest in me.

"Who are you?" Dino asked.

"I should be asking you that," Mukuro replied, raising an eyebrow. My lips curled into a smirk when I noticed what he was doing; he was attempting to make Dino become worked up for his own amusement. Dino simply carried on frowning, not reacting much to his question. "You're adventurous to be alone in here with Kyouya, Blondie." I raised my own eyebrows at the nickname that Dino had acquired, yet it didn't seem like it bothered him. It was a normal name for his hair; after all, he'd probably experienced being called it in the past.

"I haven't bit him to death yet," I pointed out, yawning into my hand a moment later. "He's just an idiot."

Mukuro hummed, pivoting on his heel to ignore Dino the next moment. "I'm rather offended, actually," he said with a pout. "You didn't answer any of my calls this weekend. I wanted to harass you some more."

At least he'd acknowledged that I found him an annoyance. It was much better than the other male in the room. My lips curled into a smirk as I turned in my seat, around to see him properly. My eyes were narrowed as I replied, "I blocked your number long ago."

"Again?" His lower lip jutted out more.

"Again," I confirmed. "Don't buy another phone. It's ridiculous how many you go through."

Mukuro blinked before he beamed. "So, you care about how much money I spend?"

"No." I frowned. "The amount of numbers I have to block, on the other hand, are what I care about."

"But you're amusing to tease," he exclaimed, leaning closer towards me. There was a glint of amusement within his eyes, the smirk across his lips proving my theory, too. I continued to stare up at him, not willing to break the silent challenge between us. "I got asked about my scar again."

My smirk came back, that time larger than before. The scar was upon his left hand, inflicted when we were in elementary school. He was still as much as a fool as he was now, much like I was still stubborn and refusing to get close to people. Mukuro had continued to pester me, trying to spark a few reactions. He had a habit of pulling my cheeks, attempting to steal all of my things and one day I snapped. When he stole something, I had bit down onto the flesh of his hand, causing the wound to bleed for hours on end. "You stole my cookie."

"Wasn't it a bit harsh to bite me, though?" He laughed, raising his left hand to inspect the scar. "When I touch someone's face, they notice it straight away."

"Maybe you shouldn't be touching people's faces," I pointed out lowly. "They know you're only toying with them."

"But it's fun!" He pouted again, crossing his arms over his chest. "Most of them blush before they think I'm dangerous." Before I could think of an appropriate reply, Mukuro had leaned towards me again. We were on eye level at that moment, both of us smirking at each other. It continued for a few moments, long enough to aggravate Dino apparently. His hand was on Mukuro's chest after that, pushing him backwards to stare at him with an annoyed expression. I blinked in amusement when I saw Mukuro raise an eyebrow while looking at Dino. I watched as the blonde wedged himself between us, causing Mukuro to take a few steps back.

"You're bothering him," Dino proclaimed. His back was to me at that moment, but I could see Mukuro's. He raised both of his eyebrows at Dino's comment, humming softly while staring at him. _Looks like he's having fun, _I observed. I eyed Dino's back warily, wondering why he was concerned about whether or not I was bothered by Mukuro.

"Bothering him?" Mukuro questioned with an amused tone of voice. "Kyouya's accustomed to this." Apparently Dino's reaction was good since Mukuro laughed loudly the next moment, clapping his hands together as he sidestepped. "I think you should go back to your class now, Blondie. Lunch is over."

Dino didn't get a chance to reply, instead a bell sounded meaning that Mukuro was, indeed, right for once. Dino ran a hand through his hair quickly, letting out a sigh before turning around to face me. I looked up at him curiously, waiting to see what he would say, yet he didn't say a thing. He merely looked at me for a few seconds before leaving, Mukuro laughing as he walked by.

"That was annoying," I muttered, mostly to myself.

Mukuro kept laughing at random points through the lesson, smirking when I caught his eye, too. Thankfully, he didn't speak that much though. He didn't complain when I appeared for one lesson, much like the teacher didn't either. If they had constantly bugged me about it, I probably would've been kicked out a lot more quickly for fighting. I was almost thrown out of my middle school, too, along with Mukuro for fighting too often. It didn't help that when we had swimming lessons another male had came along and thought we were friends. Ryohei couldn't swim well though, to his own chagrin, causing himself to almost drown most of the time. When I'd pushed Mukuro's head under the water and kept it there for as long as possible, he'd kicked me in the stomach. I did have scars from fighting with him, but none were as noticeable as the one upon his hand. I smirked when I thought back to his scream that he'd produced. He'd never made one much like it, though, yet I suspected that if I happened to kick him in the crotch he would. The thought of that happening made my lips curl into a smirk as I walked inside of my home, tugging one of my shirt buttons undone when I thought about how hot it was that day.

Unintentionally the first thing I did after taking my jacket off of my shoulders was reach for my laptop.

_Count Blonde_—_I bet they don't. I'd be afraid of you killing me if you did._

He'd sent the message while I was getting dressed, yet I hadn't checked to see. There was another, too.

_Count Blonde_—_I've got to leave to go to school now. I would ask to speak to you more, but that would mean getting your phone number. We're not close enough for that yet._

"Damn right we're not close enough for that." I shuddered at the thought of giving out my phone number on the internet. I wasn't a big enough fool to do that, especially when I've seen random numbers advertised in different games. There weren't many people who could be trusted. I was only talking to him for amusement; if he proved to me entertaining for awhile longer, it was possible I'd exchange them. But if he called one day and I didn't look—possibly thinking it was Mukuro—that was going to be awkward. A deep voice didn't belong to a girl. Normal ones, at least.


	5. Transient

_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter five—Transient

_Namibird: Don't do it, don't you dare do it._

_Namibird: If you add them, I'll kill_ _you._

_Count Blonde: Hey, calm down! It's just a random person. Isn't it fine?_

"No, it's not okay, you idiot," I groaned, trying to keep my agitation from showing in real life. I doubted whether Dino would appreciate popping his head into my room and finding me smashing down onto the keys of my keyboard. I was simply annoyed since Count Blonde seemed to be refusing to listen to me, deluding himself into thinking that he was right. At that very moment, I knew that I was the one who was right. I _definitely _was. "Not like I'd admit I was wrong, though."

_Count Blonde: What's the harm in adding them?_

_Namibird: I know them. Just don't do it. _

The urge to quit from anger was becoming more appealing every second. But that meant losing to someone who I didn't want to.

"How the hell does he keep finding me?" I asked myself, gnawing on my lip. I'd blocked enough of his accounts, yet weekly he was still coming back. There was always the option of reporting their IP address, but that knocked out some of my own amusement, too. "I could just smash his computer," I mused, my eyes darting away from the screen for a moment before I looked back.

_Count Blonde: Oh, come on, Nami. We only started using instant messaging today. Can't you put up with one more friend? If you know them, I'm sure they're nice. _

_Namibird: Couldn't we just stick to the forum? _

My lips curled into a frown as I adjusted my laptop within my lap again. My eyes had started to hurt from the lack of light within the room, the screen providing the only snippets, since I was motivated enough to put any of the others on. Dino had disappeared somewhere as soon as he'd gotten home, not even uttering a word to me before be continued on his travels. _I have Mukuro to thank for that, I suppose. _

_Count Blonde: But isn't this easier to get to when we're at school?_

_Namibird: Assuming that I'd want to talk to you there, yes._

_Count Blonde: Oh, ouch. You wound me, Nami._

_Namibird: Is it fatal?_

_Count Blonde: Oh, it will be. I'm adding them into our conversation now. _

For a moment, I simply stared at our conversation in shock. Then the alert came up within it, saying a particular person had been added causing he to press my face into my hands from exasperation. It seemed like I couldn't get a break, really; the last time they had annoyed me whilst online had to have been a little over a week ago. As soon as I'd created a new account on a game, I'd received a private message from them. His nickname _always _gave him away.

_Count Blonde: Hi! I hear you're a friend of Nami's? Sorry I wasn't speaking before just one-on-one, I wanted to speak to you first with Nami here._

_Namibird: Get out, Pineapple._

_Prince Pineapple: Nami, eh? Yeah, sure, I'm their friend. Who exactly are you?_

_Count Blonde: Internet husband._

_Namibird: Like hell you are; both of you can go to hell. _

_Prince Pineapple: Husband? Well, that's certainly interesting. I'm guessing you're the one who tops, then? How did you decide this? _

_Prince Pineapple: Is it from the feminine scream that Nami_ _produces? Have you heard it through the microphone yet? Though, I'm not sure you two should be up to that already..._

"I am going to kill him," I growled. The laptop landed awkwardly on my bed as I pushed myself up, reaching for the phone I'd left on my desk before cursing myself. I'd forgotten that I'd already blocked Mukuro's number on there. Opening my door as quietly as possible, I made my way to quickly gab the house phone, pressing the numbers I wanted in there. There was a chance that it wouldn't have been Mukuro who would answer, due to it being his house phone, too, causing me to grimace.

"Hello?" a timid voice answered the phone.

My lips curled down into a frown, the bridge of my nose being pinched as I tried not to scare her. "Nagi," I greeted, "can you put Mukuro on the phone?"

"Hi, Kyouya," she said quietly. "I think Mukuro's busy right now..."

"I don't care." My patience was starting to snap at that point. I trudged back up the stairs, the phone firmly in my hand as I frowned. "If you have to, just punch him in the face instead of putting him on."

"I'm not punching Mukuro in the face for you."

_Brat. _"Fine, kick him." Nagi had never been involved whenever Mukuro and I were together; since she was younger, she usually stuck with her friends instead of tagging along after him. A few times, though, she had appeared, meaning that I knew she was nothing like him. Their hair was slightly similar—most likely from their addiction to hairspray—but that was about it. The colour of their eyes were different, heights, physical appearance, mostly since Nagi was a female, along with their hair colour, too. However, unless someone they better, they were assumed to be siblings.

Many claimed were related, but I knew that Nagi had only appeared when Mukuro and I turned fourteen.

"...No."

"Throw a book," I bargained, my lips curling into a smirk. Although I had a purpose for calling, it was a relief to talk to her at some points. We'd hardly had time to speak in the past, yet when our fleeting conversations came around, they were relaxing. Nagi was the exact opposite of him, possessing a much better personality.

"No," she denied me again, that time the pout visible in her voice. "Why didn't you call his phone?"

I smirked. "You should know the answer to that."

"You blocked him again, didn't you?" Nagi sighed, the rustling of clothes meeting my ears the next moment. I assumed that she was walking up the stairs—quietly, as always—towards his bedroom. My smirk became louder when I heard the click of a door handle and then Nagi saying softly, "Mukuro."

"Oh, Nagi." Even though his voice was muffled, I could still tell it was him. "You should come watch this it's quite fu—"

She quickly interrupted him, her tone urgent as though she was trying to stop him from completing his sentence. I could still guess what it was, though, causing my teeth to bite down onto my lip. I only had to guess what he and Count Blonde had started to talk about in the time that I wasn't there; it was surely a ridiculous move to leave the laptop where I couldn't see it. "Kyouya's on the phone."

"This will be fun." He laughed, the muffled noises I heard the next moment being a clear indication that the phone was being passed over. "What's wrong, Kyouya?" The smirk was evident in his smirk from the amused drawl. "You don't want to share your boyfriend with me? That's if, they even are a guy. Are you sure?"

"No, I am not sure," I murmured, mostly to myself. "But that's besides the point. How did you even get their information?"

"...I logged onto your account."

My answer was quick. "Which account?"

"All of them. Your passwords are similar, so it's pretty easy to crack them." He seemed chuffed with himself at that moment, smugness pouring into his voice. "They always have something to do with that bird of yours or Namimori. Also, congratulations on your new username. You've reached a new level of creativeness."

"Thanks for the compliment, Prince Pineapple," I drawled, rolling my eyes in the process. I wasn't particularly surprised that he'd hacked into my account again—although, my passwords were indeed similar—it was the fact he was admitting it that surprised me. Before, he had profusely refused that he'd done such a thing. "And why exactly are you gracing me with your presence tonight?"

"I'm glad you understand that it's a privilege." He laughed, voice becoming considerably louder. "I just felt like logging onto your email; imagine my surprise when I saw you had _many _messages from the same person! Are you into internet dating now?"

"First, you mistake Dino to be my boyfriend and now you assume I'm into internet dating?" I asked, dubious with narrowed eyes. "I think you need to get yourself checked. No one normal would come up with that conclusion."

"So that blond-haired guy was called Dino, huh?" Mukuro laughed again. "What else am I supposed to think, Kyouya?" He stopped talking after that, instead typing becoming apparent instead. "Plus, why are you a girl? I'm pretty sure you're male."

"I am male." _Stating the obvious. _

"Why are you posing as a girl on the internet?" He carried on typing, most likely putting loud speaker on. "Don't tell me..."

"Whatever you've come up with, it's wrong," I cut in quickly, resting against the wall. "They just assumed I was one, I didn't feel the need to correct them."

"Count Blonde says he's male and single."

My forehead soon met the wall. The bang was audible, yet I hoped no one within the house heard it. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Playing matchmaker, of course. If you're that lonely, I can always go round your house and keep you company. I can do it however you like, Kyouya," he purred.

"Stop being ridiculous," I snapped. "I am _not _looking for a relationship online. Stop talking to _him_, and leave me the hell alone."

"You're the one who called me," he pointed out, as though he had won the argument at that moment. "Hey, do you know what? Rather than scary, Count Blonde thinks you're amusing, funny and charming. Are you interacting with him differently than me?" He laughed lowly. "I'll get jealous soon if you don't include me in this."

"One day, Nagi will punch you in the face and you'll definitely deserve it."

"Dear Nagi would never hurt me," Mukuro said, obviously pleased with himself. "She owes me a lot, Kyouya, you know what."

"I do, but I can still persuade her to punch you," I grumbled, utterly disappointed in my lack of creativity at that moment. "Or I can come over there and gut you. Would you like that?"

"I like anything you do to me." It was obvious he had winked while saying that. "In exchange for a kiss, I'm sure Nagi would do anything for you."

"No, Mukuro." I sighed. "You're convinced she has a crush on me, but she does _not_."

"Would you like to test that out?" he asked slyly, amusement leaking into the tone. I sighed in response, wanting to hang up immediately but I needed to make sure he'd leave me alone first. It was my own fault that I had to stand awkwardly in the hallway while waiting for him to agree; there was a cord on the phone, plus I had blocked even his home phone on my mobile. I didn't want him to have any way to annoy me, after all. _Karma? _I asked myself sarcastically. "If you agree, I'll leave you and your husband alone."

"Does that mean you'll leave me alone in real life, too?" I countered, shifting against the wall I was leaning on.

"Of course not!" He laughed loudly, the sound almost covering up his typing. "If you don't agree, I'll send this message telling Count Blonde where you live. I've already confirmed with him that he lives in the same time zone, relatively near to here. Wouldn't you just _love _to have him turn up to your house?"

"...Don't you dare."

It was obvious that Mukuro was smirking. "The message is already typed."

"Bullshit." My eyes were narrowed, even though he couldn't see.

"I would suggest you go and look, but you're downstairs, aren't you?" he said smugly. "You could abandon the phone, not knowing what I was going to do and go look..."

"What do you want?" A sigh slipped through my lips.

"Why, I thought it was obvious, Kyouya," he mock gasped, his tone still smug. "I've changed who I'm playing matchmaker for now. I don't care about your online friend who apparently wants to get in your _panties_." I rolled my eyes to his comment, not completely taking him seriously. "Invite Nagi out on a date and you'll see what I mean."

"Fine," I groaned, though still not taking him seriously. I didn't see Nagi that way at all, and I was sure the platonic feeling was reciprocated. "Just stop talking to him. By the time I'm upstairs, if you're not gone, I'll make sure to bite you to death tomorrow."

"Love you, too."

Before I could snap back, Mukuro had ended the call. Gritting my teeth together still, sighing quietly to myself, I placed the phone back before walking upstairs, fully expecting him to have disappeared offline. I peeked inside my room quickly, just to see if Dino had somehow appeared out of nowhere, yet he wasn't there. My eyebrow was arched for a moment before I shook my head, telling myself not to think of it. He wasn't any of my concern, anyway.

My curiosity was indeed piqued at that moment; usually, I couldn't trust Mukuro—I doubted that I still could, though—so the message, if it had ever existed, had certainly been sent. "I can always cut his hair in his sleep."

_Count Blonde: Nami, are you still there?_

_Count Blonde: Your friend's gone already, I don't think you'll want to scroll through the whole chat, too. Just ignore it._

_Count Blonde: ...Have I made you angry by talking to him? Sorry! I didn't know you wanted to keep your boyfriend a secret._

"What the fuck?" My thoughts were voiced accidentally, far too loudly for no one to have heard.

_Namibird: Now you're making me want to scroll up. What exactly did you two say to each other? There was a reason why I didn't want him here. _

Considering that he'd added me on his new account, I assumed that Mukuro wanted to stay on there for awhile. Until I reported him, at least.

_Count Blonde: He just told me the truth, I guess. You could have just said you had a protective boyfriend, I thought he was kidding around in the beginning._

_Namibird: He's not my boyfriend._

_Count Blonde: He did say you were in denial. But... he told me far too many details, especially about your house, for some odd reason._

_Namibird: You better not be planning to visit me. He didn't tell you exactly where I lived, did he?_

For some reason or another, I didn't feel nervous that he could have known where I lived. Mukuro surely couldn't have been that idiotic as to tell a stranger, even more so after he'd announced himself to be my own boyfriend. I rolled my eyes to myself, not particularly fond of the joke he'd kept going for far too many years. He'd even introduced me to Nagi as his boyfriend—clearly saying that I played the feminine role—which caused me to swiftly jab him in the ribs before trying to cause internal bleeding. Count Blonde's reply had taken far too long to come, a clear pause in his replies, despite the message saying he was still typing.

_Count Blonde: We live in the same town, Nami._

Instead of replying, like I was mostly likely supposed to, I chose to slam the top of my laptop down, pushing it aside quickly before running my fingers through my hair. Mukuro had said that he _didn't_ send the message, so why the hell did he think it was okay to admit what town we had lived in? I should have scrolled up and read their conversation, but it would've been awkward to know all of it. Maybe, I should have just left the conversation as soon as the two of them started to know each other.

"When I see him tomorrow, I'll make him regret it," I concluded, nodding my head before pushing myself up from the bed. Lazily, my clothes were discarded onto the floor before I was situated within my bed, pressing my head further into the pillow in an attempt to get to sleep quickly. I'd set my alarm for barely past six in the morning, early enough to make a detour on the way so I could make it so Mukuro had two black eyes.

It had barely been ten minutes after I'd signed off—my laptop having turned itself into hibernation—when the bedroom door creaked open. I froze, choosing not to show I was awake.

"Kyouya?" Dino called.

...Could he not tell I was trying to be asleep? I couldn't tell, but he didn't seem to be aware I was still awake. It didn't help that I was facing where his mattress was on the floor, either. If I opened my eyes at the wrong moment, surely, he'd know what I was doing. Keeping them firmly shut, his footsteps sounded through the room.

"You're probably asleep right now." His voice was soft, but loud enough to indicate he was close to me. "But, I've heard that, well, sometimes you can remember what people say when you're asleep? Just like... learning while asleep, I suppose."

_He's rambling. _For some reason or another, I had to stop myself from smirking to give away my amusement. Dino seemed nervous, the shuffling of clothing meaning he was fidgeting, too. I wasn't supposed to be a threat while asleep.

"It's just... I'm sorry." He dropped an octave. "I haven't been here for you before and you probably don't want me here, right? It's obvious you don't." He was more observant than I thought; maybe, not as idiotic as I had originally thought. "I know that I'm not exactly—" Dino cut himself off, pausing. "I'm not the brother you want; you don't know a thing about me, too. I'm protective over you already but I don't view you as you view me."

Footsteps sounded again.

"Sorry, Kyouya," he repeated, that time quieter from before.

What was I supposed to think of what he said? Surely, he knew that I didn't think of him as a brother already—meaning, clearly, that he thought of me as one. But being protective of me, even though we'd just met? Pushing him away enough times didn't work at all, apparently. There was a chance that he was a masochist, yet I doubted that was it.

Confused, my face was pressed further into the pillow.

In the morning, I grabbed my clothes before showering quickly, making my way to school before I had realised I'd skipped out on beating Mukuro. He had the sense not to appear through the three lessons, though, I was still waiting for him to through the fourth, just before lunch. Tapping my pencil almost silently against the desk, irritably, I frowned. Since I wanted to occupy my time with something else, I looked through the classroom quickly, blinking in surprise when I noticed one of the girls from yesterday. _I think her name was Kyoko?_

She was sitting near the front, one of the reasons I'd barely noticed her before. Though, it seemed like my attention deserved to be elsewhere since she was idly taking notes of what the idiotic teacher was spouting. A good student, I observed. Her other friend wasn't in the class, for sure, but I distinctly heard that she was in the classroom next to where I was. It didn't solve my question of why I hadn't seen her before, or how she could have possibly convinced herself that she was in love. _Ridiculous, _I thought bitterly, frowning to myself.

What was love supposed to be, at the age I was at? It seemed meaningless, just a reason for weakness. _Not for me. _Scowling, I ran my fingers through my bangs.

As I did so, slowly, I heard the door open. It didn't attract too much attention, but enough for me to smirk.

Mukuro was trying to sneak in the class.

My smirk increased as I picked up my pencil, closing one eye so I could aim correctly. The pencil connected with the board at the front quickly, barely skimming past the teacher's cheek as I hid my smirk. Acting bored, I placed my chin upon my palm, waiting for them to turn around.

"Who threw th—_Rokudo_! You're _not _coming in late again, wait in the hall!"

"...With pleasure." I almost snorted at how frustrated Mukuro sounded, watching from my peripheral vision as he stepped outside again. When he left, there was nothing else to entertain me and more than half an hour left of class. I could have just stood up and walked out, yet it would've looked like I wanted to talk to Mukuro instead of sitting inside. In fact, there was someone I did want to talk to, to my own chagrin. Maybe it was since I'd given up so easily the night before.

Fishing my own out from my pocket, I tried to be as neutral as possible. Opening the program—huffing slightly at how slow it seemed to be—I typed in my account details quickly, closing my eyes as it loaded tauntingly slow.

"He's actually on." I blinked, opening up the conversation before glancing up at the teacher.

_Namibird: Why aren't you in class?_

His reply was quick.

_Count Blonde: I am in class, just like you are, I suppose. Is it that boring?_

The answer should have been obvious. Class was boring, of course, but I wanted to clear something up first.

_Namibird: I wanted to talk to you about something. Don't take this the wrong way._

After I'd typed the first sentence, I realised how wrong he could have taken it. It was partly because I didn't want to accept that I was looking forward to talking to him, going out of my way to log on, or even risk getting my phone confiscated.

_Count Blonde: ...Okay. Go ahead and talk, I've got awhile until class ends._

_Namibird: If I see you, no matter the reason, by my house, school or anywhere else, I will make sure you won't be walking normally for days. Plus, Pineapple is _not _my boyfriend. Are we clear?_

_Count Blonde: Way to wound my heart; I thought you were going to confess your love to me, finally._

For a moment, I froze from his message. I shook my head quickly, replying quietly. The topic seemed to be coming up far too much for my liking; I wasn't comfortable thinking about it, much less acknowledging that other's joked about it without a care. It was a _weakness_.

_Namibird: Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't feel something as idiotic as love._

_Count Blonde: Do you mind if I ask what Pineapple is to you, then? Also, why aren't you paying attention in class?_

_Namibird: Childhood friend. One that I just got sent out the class, in fact, so there's nothing to entertain me. Should I not be online? If so, that applies to you, too._

From looking at the time again, I was surprised to see that there were only a few minutes left before lunch. I'd wasted a lot of time typing, simply because it took awhile to do so on my phone.

_Count Blonde: I guess I can believe that for now. Still, he was rather demanding about our relationship, and then proclaimed that you were his. No, no, I'm happy, actually, that you're on. It's more fun this way._

_Namibird: You said were were in the same town as me, right? That means you'll probably have lunch soon. I won't be speaking to you during that._

_Count Blonde: Can we speak another day through lunch? It might be fun. But soon, I need to go see someone important._

Apparently, he really did have friends already. I had thought that since it was still early for him, that no one had accepted him yet. _It might be a fluke, _I assured myself before frowning, not approving of my own faults. It wasn't any of my concern whether he was getting on well at his school or not, I simply wanted to talk to him online, that was all.

..._I do want to talk to him. _I blinked.

_Namibird: We'll see. For now, go see whoever it is you need to._

_Count Blonde: Wish me luck, Nami?_

It wasn't a big deal. Count Blonde normally called me that name, since he'd assumed it was my first in real life, but for a reason I couldn't fathom, it irked me that time. When he'd typed it, it seemed like he was speaking to someone entirely different, not me at all.

"Because I'm not a girl," I murmured.

"I could make you look like a girl, if you'd wish, Kyouya."

I almost jumped in shock. Instead, I exited the program on my phone quickly, stuffing it inside my pocket before incredulously staring over my shoulder. Mukuro was standing behind me again, that time with a smirk upon his lips as he tilted his head back.

"Did you even notice that it was lunch now?"

With a turn of my head, I could confirm that I had been oblivious to the class leaving, including the teacher, too.

"Of course I knew," I lied, eyeing Mukuro distastefully. "I haven't forgiven you for yesterday."

"Yesterday?" He raised an eyebrow, seemingly amusing. "That was quite a lovely phone call, thank you for blessing me with your voice for awhile."

"You're very welcome." Rolling my eyes, I was about to push myself up from the desk.

"S-sorry, hello!" We both turned out heads at the same time, catching sight of the female that was standing just inside of the room. I blanched slightly when I realised who it was—it was _her _fault that Count Blonde thought that I was a lesbian. Though, I still didn't know if he was serious about that comment or now. Narrowing my eyes, and ignoring as Mukuro laughed, I noticed that she looked nervous, the tone of her voice different from the day before, too. "I—"

We were both waiting for her to explain, but all that Haru did was pull her arms out from behind her back.

"...Don't go and touch her face, Mukuro," I warned, leaning back. Arching an eyebrow at the girls actions, I disregarded that the male beside me was mock pouting, of all things.

The odd noise came out of her mouth again, much like the day before. Sighing at the sound of it, I quickly lost interest, not caring that she was holding a box of sorts in her hand. It was wrapped in a purple cloth, from what I could tell, but looked as though it was her lunch. _Don't tell me..._

"You know, Kyouya here's already taken, Haru," Mukuro said loudly, smirking deviously for a moment before stepping forward. Blinking, I realised that they possibly knew each other, or, she could have been one of his victims in the past.

"Do you two know each other?" I asked with a bored tone. If they did, that possibly meant that Mukuro knew that she had proclaimed her _love _for me, possibly wanting to toy with her for that small detail.

"We're the best of friends."

"Haru's Nagi's friend."

They had both answered at the same time, Mukuro only a little bit before. I blinked, not sure what to think of the answers I'd received. Although I hadn't met any of Nagi's friends—purely since I barely spoke to her, not enough to have been classed as close—I doubted someone such as the hyperactive brunette was her type.

"...Okay," I said slowly. "What do you want?"

Mukuro leaned closer to whisper something into Haru's ear, the blush that appeared across her cheeks making me increasingly wary. _They're familiar with each other, _I observed, not liking that at all. Anyone to do with Mukuro was someone I could do without.

"Oh, there's a lot people in here." Holding back a groan, Dino walked in the room after that—Haru producing the _damn _noise again, while Mukuro laughing—with a soft smile on his face. Immediately, he caught sight of me, holding his hand up to wave. "Kyouya!"

I couldn't look him straight in the eyes. Closing my eyes instead, I fingered with the bridge of my nose, trying to dull my irritation. "Stop crowding in here," I snapped, intended all of them to leave already.

"Well, we better leave Kyouya and his boyfriend alone, Haru." Mukuro laughed.

Their footsteps were loud as they moved, especially when Haru squawked, "_Eh_?"

_Gosh, just kill me now. _I didn't want to be stuck in a room with Dino, of all people, after last night. Although should have been indifferent to what he had said, I was still curious about the context of it. How could he have viewed me differently? He was still assuming that I saw him as a brother, as well. It certainly wasn't anything like that—Dino was but a nuisance, one that was stuck in my room until I became insane. Leaning my elbow onto the desk, I made it so my expression was still covered, but I still trusted my voice.

"What do you want?"

"I..." Dino stopped for a moment before I knew that he had walked closer. "I wanted to talk to you."

"We've spoken, now _leave_." The demand came out easily, the tone of my voice agitated. A nap seemed like a good after he had gone, enough for me to forget about the ridiculousness of that day.

_I'd rather be speaking to Count Blonde than him. _My lips curled into a frown—that surely wasn't the right line of thought. Normal people would've wanted to speak to others in real life, rather than online. Although it was easier to fake a personality—or even gender, in my case—through typing. Since_ when have I classed myself as normal?_

"Don't be like that." Dino chuckled quietly, sounding closer than before. I had to assume he'd settled himself into the seat beside me again. "It's actually quite important."

"What's important is you leaving," I accidentally said aloud, groaning after. If he had heard it, however, maybe Dino understood that I didn't want him there. It was awkward; awkward enough that I felt the need to tap my shoe on the floor, in an attempt to not say something embarrassing. "I don't want to speak to you."

"Could you just listen instead, please?"

Arching an eyebrow, I demanded, "Give me one reason to."

"I know you may not like me yet, Kyouya, but you need at least give me a chance," he reasoned, straining the last syllables. "When have we ever held a proper conversation?"

"The moment I met you, you ruined all chances of that ever happening." I snorted quietly, moving my hand back down to my side as I opened my eyes. He wasn't going to bring up the night before, apparently, meaning I had reason to be awkward. _It's fine, _I reassured myself.

"Sorry for being excited to see you," he snapped back, sighing when he'd came back to his senses. "I was just happy to see you, I didn't mean to knock you to the ground, especially while you were dressed like that."

"Apology not accepted," I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest. From my peripheral vision, I could see that he was, indeed, in the seat next to me. _Far too close, _I decided. If he wanted to be near me, he needed to learn that there were restrictions. _Even if Mukuro ignores them. _"Fine. If you want to stay in there, I have a few conditions."

Dino's answer was immediate. "Name them."

Smirking, I resisted the urge to laugh. "Sit on the other side of the room, so no physical contact. Do _not _bring up the fact that we're related, and do not mock me."

He was quiet while debating the conditions. When he finally stood up, I smirked. Of course he wouldn't have been willing to talk on the other side of the room—it was a clear rejection from me. Closing my eyes, my smirk increased as I heard the footsteps, waiting for the door to open loudly before I was alone again.

"Is this far enough?"

Surprise flickered across my expression when I saw he was sitting on top of the teacher's desk, smiling widely at me.

"Why—" _Why are you still here? _"I suppose so," I grumbled, since there wasn't anywhere further away. "You can spout your nonsense now."

"Okay, I will." He beamed, sounded far too happy with himself. "Is there anything you want to know about me, by the way? You haven't asked me anything at all. I've been doing everything."

_Screw it, I'm breaking one of my own conditions. _"Where have you been?"

"...In class?" he replied dumbly, making me want to press my palm into my face from exasperation.

"That's not what I mean, Herbivore," I pointed out, telling myself internally to stop. My curiosity had only become piqued from the night before, that was all. After all, I assumed it was understandable to want to know about him, just a little bit, if he had known of me for all those years. I had no clue until just the day before he had turned up, surely that wasn't long enough to prepared myself. The fact that he seemed to be what I hated most in individuals rolled all into one—persistent, cheerful and didn't know when to give up—didn't help the matter. "Why have you only just shown up now?"

"That wasn't my choice," he said softly, only just audible from our distance. "I didn't want to, Kyouya, but I just assumed... that our parents didn't want to have a child, that's why our grandma looked after me."

The disgust was obvious in my voice. "I didn't even know she existed." I barely acknowledged her presence, so him proclaiming that she was _our _grandmother was not acceptable. I had never even touched her—she was _not _family. "She's not my family."

"You may not, but she was family to me." He shrugged, voice louder than before. "She was all I knew, after all. I knew of you, from speaking to Mom on the phone, but I wasn't allowed to speak to you." Dino laughed again, the sound almost sarcastic as he did so, as if he was mocking himself. Arching an eyebrow in the change of mood, I was about to speak before he cut me off. "I actually asked to call you one year on my birthday." He chuckled, shaking his head. "That didn't go too well. I wasn't even allowed to talk to Mom when that happened."

"Am I supposed to sympathise with you?" I drawled, looking up at the ceiling instead of at him. It was easier to communicate if we both weren't looking, plus the distance helped, too. "I found out about you the day before you practically attacked me. That should answer why I don't accept your existence."

"You could easily accept me," he pointed out, "maybe, you could try and spend time together?"

"No," I rejected him quickly, frowning to myself at the thought. Resting my chin on my palm, I chose to stare out of the window instead, blinking lightly when I realised I could see his reflection, albeit blurry, within it.

"Fine." He laughed, running a hand through his bangs. "But, isn't it nice to finally talk?"

"Not particularly." My curiosity hadn't been quenched. "What do you see me as?"

I could see Dino visibly stiffen—causing me to be surprised, for a moment—before shaking his head. "What do _you _see me as?" he retorted.

Maybe, it wasn't obvious. "An annoyance."

"Ouch." He laughed, standing up afterwards. "Can you tell me how I can be something else?"

"You can't be anything else." _He's but a herbivore, even if we have the same blood, _I told myself. We'd definitely bee talking long enough—I doubted that we would be alone for much longer, or if Mukuro had even left at all. I wouldn't have put it past him to be outside the door, trying to find out who exactly Dino was to me. "Are you satisfied now?"

"Not particularly." He grinned, both of us making eye contact for the first time in awhile. As he walked towards me, I stared at him with a bored expression, showing my distaste for having to have a proper conversation with him, for once. Although it had made me understand his character a little better—maybe, he wasn't as much as an idiot as I thought—it still made me uneasy about his statements the night before. He'd avoided my question, too, making it seem more suspicious. "Hey, Kyouya..."

Eyeing him awkwardly, I asked, "What do you want now?"

"Would you mind if I came to see you everyday?" Dino enquired, smiling softly at me. He was standing in front of my desk by then, making it so his voice was clearer than before. "I do want to make up for the time we've lost."

"No," I hissed, narrowing my eyes. Mukuro had already gotten the wrong idea, roping Haru into it, too. The last thing I needed were more rumours revolving around me—it wasn't what I needed. "Knowing Mukuro, he's already spread around that you're my boyfriend."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Surprise flickered across Dino's expression before he pursed his lips, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

"You're my brother, not my lover." I scowled.

"Kyouya." His eyes had widened, much like his grin as I stared at him, confused. As I was about to talk, I was cut off with his actions instead that time. We had been close before, but from the lack of distance, Dino only had to lean forward to efficiently put his arms around me. I froze from the contact, not having expected to have been hugged as abruptly nor tightly as I had been.

"Get _off_," I demanded, almost falling off of my chair from trying to shrug him off. Dino only pulled me closer, my face warming up from the intrusion to my personal space again.

"Kyouya," he murmured near my ear. "You finally acknowledged I'm your brother."

My eye twitched after that, patience finally hitting its limit. I ground my teeth together while drawing one of my arms down, clenching his hand into a fist before connecting it harshly with his stomach. I was satisfied by hearing the gasp that Dino had produced, surprise restricting his movements for long enough for me to push him away. Staring at him incredulously, I ground out, "I hate you."

He'd successfully ruined any chance of me wanting to speak to him willingly again.

Exiting the room quickly, I scowled when I saw that Mukuro was leaning against the wall outside, much like I expected him to be. "You heard correctly," I hissed at him—the smirk confirming that he had, indeed, been listening in—before my intention of leaving the school promptly became apparent. _Even talking to Count Blonde all through lunch would've been better—I could try and avoid Dino by doing that._

**AN: **To clear up any confusion, for "instant messaging" there will be a colon after their usernames, when on a forum talking there will be em dashes. Nagi and Haru and going to play quite a part in this story along with Mukuro, unfortunately. It kind of seems like I'm forgetting Dino, aren't I? I'm just trying to space this out so it doesn't become another joke story since this is actually my favourite.

...Must be because there's incest and smut. You can never go wrong with that.


	6. Spectral

**Loketoki: **Haha, bad timing! Don't worry, they aren't lovey dovey at all yet. Not for at least... another ten or so chapters? A long time away. **ezzelin: **Put it this way: I'm an idiot, Dino's an idiot, we think the same. It's happened to be before, haha. :P **Takigawa Aki: **Thanks. **RuriKamiya: **Thank you! Haha, I'll attempt to convert you more. **I Like To Stalk You: **Thanks! **I Like To Stalk You: **Double review, haha. **df14-blacksnow: **Thanks! **Eyes17k: **I would've cracked up if someone fell over in the dark, so I'm sure Kyouya would let out a small snort at that. **Lynne-chann: **Thanks! Haha, we all love that dork. **Lynne-chann: **Kiss and rape? Who knows. **Lynne-chann: **Pfft, not yet! **Lynna-chann: **Woo! **hamandeggrock: **It fits him perfectly, look closer. Nope, not jealousy. Just Dino being protective. **KaganeTheGreat: **Thank you so much! ;/; **MOnO.13: **Yup, Mukuro will be appearing more. There's only a few characters in the story, after all. **KirishimaYui: **Thank you! I try my best, but I give up sometimes. I'm not comfortable with my writing. **Maniactly-a-lunatic: **Hey, Princess. **Sagacchi: **Thanks! **Emiko Estelle:** Written!** Emiko Estelle: **T-thank you! **Yoshi333: **Haha, yup! I'm not sure how many chapters it will be until he finds out, though. **18plusForMe: **It's fine! I hope everything's okay for you. **MOnO.13: **Shock will come soon! There's another twist coming with the cousin XD; **ezzelin: **Haha, I feel blessed that you're reading this still, then. **Eyes17k: **Aww. **LAmbo San: **Thank you so much! Your review really made me happy. :'D **Sugar Dawn: **I can't actually explain how much I flipped out when I got your review. I remember being stupidly happy to Aki while we were talking, haha. You _really _complimented me there! o_o I don't deserve that at all. Thank you so much for the lovely words and dklgjdfhfj for making me so happy. **simply anonymous: **Herbivore could be a slang word from where he's moved to, lmao? Who knows. **Face Faith: **Ahh, Mukuro and KYouya's relationship was only supposed to be friendly. You know, the one you hate but still talk to? There's no romance going on there. Pretending to be a girl is more fun. c: **Face Faith: **He's got a good purpose~ Since Haru actually, uh, has some connections with Kyouya anyway XD; It'll become clear soon. He's just being a cunt on purpose. My USB went corrupt, so I haven't got my plans anyway. I don't know how many chapters this will be. **Niouyuki: **S-sorry for making you cry! I didn't mean to do that at all. Nope! Dino hasn't realised who Nami is yet, but he will do in a few chapters. There will be _no _1896 in this story, nor 1886. It'll be clear why soon lmao. XD; **You - Xernes: **Thank you! **TheFeyRa: **Welcome, new reader! -embraces you- It is brotherly love at the moment, haha. Can't rush into things. Nope, no Tsuna or Reborn, sorry.**  
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_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter six—Spectral

My intention was initially just to get a cup of coffee before going off to school early, wanting to feel the caffeine kick in from my lack of sleep that night. It wasn't that Dino was being loud—actually, he was surprising quiet, only making small conversation over dinner while our parents were oddly quiet. They did steal glances at each other, though, and then oddly enough me, too. Dino hadn't noticed a thing, especially when I had asked if it seemed any different than usual. It was a mistake of my part; he had no idea what the _usual _was, and I was already forgetting that. What had kept me up was a new game, in fact, and it was entirely my fault that I'd forgot to check the time from playing full screen. Before I had knew what had happened, there was sunlight streaming in through the window, just as I yawned largely in my hand.

Rubbing my eyes, I descended the last step, happily knowing that Dino was still asleep and not there to be loud that quickly, when I heard voices. My first reaction was to be surprised, Father had usually disappeared to work at that time, while Mother had, too, or was away to do what ever it was she did. Raising an eyebrow, I settled myself down onto the step so I wasn't in clear view, practically straining my eyes to hear their conversation. It wasn't exactly a polite move, but I was curious to see what they were hiding. They weren't purposely hiding their voices meaning they either didn't expect me to be up, or were too distracted to realise.

"There's nothing to worry about," I heard Father say, the bored drawl in his voice indicating the conversation had probably gone on for far too long. "Now that's Mother's dead, my youngest sister's gotten in contact again."

"A bit sudden, isn't it?" Mother murmured in return, apparently not liking what was being proposed. I, on the other hand, frowned from finding out that I had an aunt. "I didn't like her before, I'm not going to like her now."

"She wants her daughter to meet Kyouya, Oregano. The youngest daughter is away at some boarding school, apparently." How old was their daughter supposed to be if she wanted to meet me? I certainly didn't want to meet her, though, I knew I couldn't refuse if she just appeared. "Dino, too, since they're all going to the same school." If she was in the same high school of me, I was sure to recognise her, at least slightly.

"I still don't like her. Have you ever met her daughters before?" she asked, voice calmer than before. "They could be exact clones, you know. We have no idea what your family's like now, Alaude." I had no idea what the image in my mind was like, but it seemed the family was bigger than I thought it was. Gnawing on my lower lip, I continued to listen in. "She's not as bad the _other _sister."

"There you go again, not letting go off the past." Father snorted quietly—so I could just make it out—with a slight teasing tone. "My sister only called you a wretched whore, it's nothing that bad." My expression was close to being appalled from hearing that. If that was how one of our relatives treated my mother, it was becoming strikingly obvious why we weren't in contact with them. "She's got two children of her own now."

More family to add into the equation. I could barely keep up at that point; from what I could tell, I had far more cousins that I'd anticipated, while father had two younger sisters.

"Doesn't change the fact that she's a bitch," Mother said simply, not sounding as offended as she should have been. I furrowed my eyebrows at the behaviour—was she used to being treated like that? It wasn't acceptable, especially from the way I had been brought up over the years. Though I went against the common courtesy I was taught when it came to threats and such, I still knew basic etiquette.

I groaned softly under my breath when I heard quiet footsteps behind me. That meant only one thing, and considering that I was eavesdropping it didn't look very good for my situation. Turning around quickly, I managed to press my palm over his mouth so all that could come out was,"Kyou—" before I interrupted. I hadn't taken into thought what our position might have turned out to be, especially since a low thud had sounded from Dino falling onto the stairs.

"Quiet," I murmured, casting a significant glance over the banister, trying to ignore that I was practically straddling him. Dino's expression was, as I'd thought, surprised before he glanced down to see how we were positioned. My reaction was to clear my throat quietly, noticing that our parents weren't talking any more from probably hearing Dino falling over, before slowly pushing myself up from the stairs.

"Kyouya," he said fully that time, louder, as he soon followed me up the stairs. I refused to turn around from slight embarrassment, though I wouldn't admit that to him. It was my fault that it had happened; I wasn't comfortable enough with him yet to have been that close. "Wait a _damn_ minute."

He'd grabbed onto my hand when I'd made it to the top, the warmth of his hand transferring to my own as I cast him a incredulous look. He was certainly being impulsive that morning, maybe not thinking it through enough. He had grabbed onto he a few days prior, but I had reacted more violently than I did at that moment. I snatched my hand away, frowning deeply in his direction, before walking steadily back to our room. It could have been embarrassment that was making me act the way I was, or the lack of sleep. I hadn't been able to get the coffee I wanted, after all. I couldn't put the blame on him for that. Dino had probably just wondered where I had went, or wanted to leave early, too, and then I'd practically jumped him not to give away our position.

"What the hell was that, Kyouya?" he asked, more loudly than before. He was apparently more confused than I thought about what had happened; what did _he _think I was trying to do? My movements weren't suspicious, or were they as odd as they could have been. It may have been since I'd touched him willingly, or almost copied our first meeting.

"It's exactly as you saw it," I answered lowly in return, keeping my voice hushed just in case our parents overheard us. I was sticking to my original goal: find out what they were talking about, and then leave. There was nothing more to it, and there was nothing less. "Is there a problem?"

His expression was definitely confused when our eyes met. His widened as he acknowledged that I was accepting that he was there without a complaint, and even answering in a civil tone, probably. "Yesterday you hated me, and now you do _that_."

"That wasn't a declaration of love, herbivore." I rolled my eyes in slight exasperation, not putting the assumption past him. As my eyes travelled, my lips curled into a frown as I realised another detail I had neglected. Dino wasn't as dressed as I'd hoped for him to be—instead of being clad in the school uniform ready, he simply had a pair of pyjama pants on, the top nowhere to be seen. I averted my eyes quickly, clearing my throat awkwardly again. "I just needed you to be quiet."

"Your reaction was a bit extreme." He laughed, grinning widely for the first time that day. He ran his fingers through the messy tresses of his hair, still laughing softly before asking, "What were you doing on the stairs?"

"I was getting coffee." I shrugged, expecting the conversation to have been over after my small confession. There was no reason for me to lie about it; that was initially my goal, after all. "Then I heard our parents talking."

Dino blinked. "They're still here and you didn't say so sooner?"

He turned to walk back down the stairs quickly, and I found myself stepping forward before I'd thought it through. My hand connected with his elbow as I gripped it to stop him from moving, making sure to make eye contact as I murmured, "Wait."

From the absurdity of the situation I furrowed my own eyebrows. It was the exact opposite of the situation only a few minutes ago: Dino wasn't doing what I did, instead stopping in his tracks while staring at my face with a shocked expression.

"Are you okay?" he asked quickly, turning around so we could face each other. "Do you have a fever or do you feel slightly hot at all?" With his free hand he was moving it around in the air quickly, as if not sure where to put it. For a moment or so it was oddly close to my forehead before he decided another tactic, curling his fingers as he bit his lip. "I don't know where we keep the medicine, but I'll look around if you stay here."

"I'm fine." I frowned, narrowing my eyes slightly although they were focused mostly on the wall. My hand fell back down to my side as I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, trying to think through my next move. It didn't work as well as I'd planned, though, as I'd blurted out, "Our cousin wants to meet us."

He paused in his fussing, just enough to gape at my words. "We have cousins?"

His reaction wasn't what I was expecting. Since he'd been raised by _our _grandmother, I'd assumed he would've known them first hand. Considering that he knew more about our biological family. "You don't know them?"

"Nope," he drawled almost too happy with his words. "I just know that Dad has two sisters, that's all."

"That's more than I knew until just now," I murmured, mostly to myself. Dino had apparently caught what I had said as he blinked in surprise again, taking a step forward before he gently placed his hand onto my wrist. If the movement was supposed to be soothing, it was anything but that in his undressed state. I looked at him in confusion, finally making eye contact, before he smiled far too softly at me. "What?" I snapped rather than asking, my lack of comfort of the situation becoming apparent. Not only was he far too close to me that early in the morning, his attitude was completely off. I could be reading too much into this, I mused, supposing that it was just the lack of sleep getting to me. I could handle far more than that—staying up for nights on end was a easy feat to obtain, all it required was slight determination, or concentration, and then lots and _lots _of coffee.

"That applies to me, too, right?" His question caught me off guard. I hadn't included him within my comment, but it certainly was correct. It was far too many surprises in a short time. "I'll be in your shoes when they appear here, or we go to them. I'll try to understand you more by it, okay?" Softly he removed his hand before smiling the same way he had been for the past minute or so, before walking back into our room.

When Dino had disappeared from my sight, I could hardly stop myself from grimacing at where he had been. It was _definitely_ the lack of sleep getting to me.

It had taken me far longer than I'd expected to sign onto the instant messaging program on my phone. At first, I'd spent most of my time within the lesson sleeping, but Mukuro had his habit of waking me up in the most unexpected of ways. At first it was simple things such as throwing a piece of paper, poking me in the cheek with the end of a pen or pencil, or even _accidentally _dropping his textbook and magically making it appear on my foot, with the noise loud enough to stir me from my sleep. I'd been stubborn when I was fully awake, not wanting to acknowledge that I knew who I wanted to talk to. It wasn't my fault that I found him more amusing than not, or that the lesson was enough for my eyes to droop. I squinted at the screen at first, hardly believing how bright the light was, before placing it on the desk loudly again, letting my head to fall onto my arm.

There were surely better things to do than log on to talk to him. He was probably within class, too, and it was simply a lucky try before.

"You look like you're about to give birth," the male beside me murmured.

In return, I stuck my middle finger in Mukuro's general direction without lifting my head up from my arm. He wasn't worth that much of my attention, after all. All he wanted was for his time in the spotlight before he got too old or his hair started to fall out. There were other people for him to annoying, too, so I was just a phase. A phase that had lasted more than enough years, I reminded myself.

"You know me, I give birth regularly," I drawled sarcastically causing him to laugh far too loudly. Irked by the oncoming headache, I grabbed my phone again, blinking in surprise when I saw that I had already been logged on. My gaze became accusatory as I glared at Mukuro for a moment before disregarding it.

_Count Blonde: This is class time, get offline, you bad girl._

Either I was lucky, hating myself at the same time, or simply idiotic. The corner of my lip twitched from his message, but I refused to acknowledge it. It was just a reflex.

_Namibird: Same back to you. Learn so you can actually make something out of yourself, please._

_Count Blonde: Harsh words so early in the morning. I expect nothing less than you. Actually, Nami. I wanted to talk to you, that's why I'm online._

For a moment, I didn't move from reading his message. The contents were simply idiotic, something that had been probably said and typed far too many times to count, but it still managed to render me speechless just for the shortest amount of time. My reaction was even more ridiculous than what came next.

_Namibird: I have no reason to talk to you. I'm leaving._

It looked like my reflex was to lie about what I was thinking. If I was only just noticing it, too, then it was certainly worse that I had thought. I wanted to rethink what I had said before, especially to who it was as well, but I didn't have enough time since he'd replied.

_Count Blonde: As much as I love you, it's not like that, stupid. I wanted to ask your advice again, actually. How do you think I could get closer to my little brother?_

I frowned before I could stop myself. Did he pronounce his love as easily as that to everyone? It would surely be the apocalypse if I was able to do that, even to just one person. I chose to show the worst of my personality in my replies, though they certainly weren't serious.

_Namibird: I'll let you in on a few secrets, then. You'll have to do them all if you want him to like you._

_Count Blonde: Shoot._

My smirk only increased as I typed.

_Namibird: Put warm water on him somewhere while he's sleeping: that's a guarantee for him to like you. Plus, if you bite his ears at a random point, that would work, too. Make sure he knows who's in control, by the way, if you're just a herbivore, it's useless. Bend him over a table and make him your bitch. Just like a dog, really. _

I'd wanted to delete the message as soon as it had been typed but my lack of common sense got the better of me. I sent in before I could stop myself, not wanting to see the reaction he'd have I signed off quickly, shaking my head at my odd behaviour. When Mukuro looked at me oddly while I was frowning I shot him an awkward look before standing up, swiftly leaving the classroom without much regard to what my attendance would've turned out to be. If Dino was going to appear at the next break again, I didn't want to be around to experience more strange reaction.

I was going to send him a message quickly not to be panicked if the door was still unlocked when he'd gotten home, yet I quickly realised I was in a predicament. I had no idea what Dino's number was at all, nor did I know where his classroom was. If the idiot happened to overreact and wake me up while I was sleeping, I could always blame it on him, saying it was solely his fault for not allowing me to be in contact with him. I had half expected his number to have magically appeared on my contact list from his actions, so it was quite surprising to see it blank. Just to fill in the space, I input his name before leaving the number blank for later.

My bed was more welcoming than I could have hoped. The school clothes were thrown onto my desk chair quickly, making sure not to let them fall onto the other side of the room, before I practically dived onto the mattress. The temptation to pick up my laptop and then continue from where I had left off the night before, and also to check my email, but I ignored it.

The next time I was conscious, I was aware that there wasn't much light streaming into the room. I blinked to wake myself up before rubbing my eyes awkwardly, hissing under my breath when I'd pressed too hard. It wasn't surprising that I wasn't alone in the room, but what caused me to almost double take was that Dino seemed to have been trying to be as quiet as possible. Even plugging earphones into his laptop without the light on, he was typing slowly purposely and quietly, eyes focused on the screen.

Rather than being happy that he was considerate, my attention was diverted to the extra layer that was upon me. On top of the duvet, there was a thin blanket that I hadn't seen before placed upon it, obviously for the purpose for extra warmth. What was his intention behind putting it there? I was sure our parents weren't back, and they never came into the room, anyway.

I cleared my throat loudly to try and catch his attention, pushing myself up from the mattress at the same time. The duvet and blanket soon fell down to pool together at my lap, the material all far too heavy for me at that moment. Too much had been upon me, that was why I had perspiration over my body when I'd woken up. Dino, however, was too absorbed in what he was doing to realise I'd made a sound at all. I shrugged to myself before quickly padding across the room, entering the bathroom as quickly as possible.

After I took a long shower, I trudged back to the room, towel drying my hair as I walked slowly, just so I didn't catch a cold from the droplets of water falling. With my bangs just brushing my eyes—so I had to push them away—I walked back into the bedroom only to be taken aback.

Dino was still perched upon his bed, but rather than sat up with his laptop upon his lap, it was beside him as he was laying down, a pillow placed over his face so I couldn't see his expression. Although I could clearly see that he wasn't dead, I still wanted to see whether he was asleep or not. I walked slowly forward to jab him lightly in the ribs through his shirt with my toe. The poke wasn't hard enough, apparently, as he didn't respond. I struck him harder, pursing my lips as I waited to see what he would do.

He groaned into the pillow before sitting up quickly, blinking in surprise as his head turned side to side to inspect the surroundings. When we finally made eye contact, I raised an eyebrow before dropping my hand from my hair, still clutching onto the towel. "Don't fall asleep yet," I advised, not sure what the time was exactly.

"That's rich coming from you." Dino rolled his eyes as I stepped over his legs, perching onto the end of my bed as the towel went into my hair again. I frowned as I moved my hands quickly, trying to make my hair as dry as possible as I could feel his stare on me. Kicking him awake probably was another odd move, and he'd become even more confused than before. I really needed to think through what I did. Dragging my actions out so I didn't have to make conversation, I had to stop when my hair was finally all dry. "Why did you leave school so early?"

"How did you know I left early?" I questioned, trying to ignore it completely. Just to avoid making eye contact, I leaned back to lay on the mattress again, that time with my eyes open as I stared at the ceiling. I could still tell that he was looking at me, though.

"I could see from my classroom." It sounded as though he wasn't happy about that fact. "Did someone cause you to leave?"

"You could say that," I murmured to myself, far too quietly for him to hear. It was my own reactions that had driven me out, mostly. "I just wanted to sleep." I shrugged although Dino couldn't see.

He didn't laugh as I half expected him to. "You're not sleeping well?" he asked, concern leaking into his tone. My first reaction was to gnaw on my lip from finding out that he was still concerned for my well being—Dino definitely cared far too much about me, and the feeling certainly wasn't mutual. If he carried onto shove his concern onto me, I wasn't going to reciprocate them and start worrying about him, too. "Is it because I'm there?"

"No." I frowned, not liking that he was blaming almost everything on himself. As I sat up, I'd blurted out the truth before I realised what I'd said. "I was busy playing."

"Playing?" For some reason, Dino seemed paler than before as he repeated that quickly. I eyed him weirdly for a moment before trying to think what I had said wrong. Unless he wasn't familiar with what I was mentioning, of course it would've seemed weird.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's probably wrong," I murmured, referring to his slightly shaken expression. For once, Dino was the first to avert his eyes that time as his face become more scarlet that before. Only a light blush, though, that meant his thoughts were definitely on the wrong track. Instead of showing my disgust in my expression—clearly since he wouldn't have seen it—I simply added, "I was playing a game."

"You play games?" Dino blinked, turning his head quickly as he looked at me with an odd expression. I returned the perplexed look, not sure whether I should have elaborated what I meant by games or not; since he could have played the idiotic flash ones that were only on an internet page, or assumed that was what I was referring to. To answer, I nodded my head once. "I guess we do have something in common." He smiled softly at that. "Which kind?"

"Not what you're thinking of, probably." I raised an eyebrow in return, not sure whether I liked the sudden development. There was some excitement within his voice, too, meaning that he was far too happy about being able to make conversation about something as simple as gaming. Everyone had played a game in their lifetime, it wasn't anything new at all. "Where are Mother and Father?"

"They went out to a restaurant." Dino shrugged as if it was nothing. There was no way for him to know that they barely ever went to restaurants, mostly because they were far too crowded sometimes.

"Do you have any money?" I asked, standing up again as I crossed the room to get to the wardrobe. The rail had been split in two at some point, so Dino could fit his clothes inside of it, too, so the space between was acting as a marker to indicate which belonged to who. I was thrown off for a moment from it before shrugging my shoulders lightly, reaching for my clothes as I got dressed. Dino was oddly quiet as I did so, purposely not answering my question. After I'd slipped my shirt on—finally fully dressed—I almost snorted when I saw he was in the same position I'd walked in on earlier. Laying down with the pillow over his face. "I'll kick you again," I warned.

"I was giving you privacy to get dressed," he mumbled into the material before sitting up again. "I don't have any money, no."

My lips curled into a frown. "Do you know how to cook, then?"

"Not particularly." Dino grinned sheepishly, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck as I shot him a disappointed glance. If both of us weren't confident with our cooking skills, we weren't going to get very far that night.

After frowning at him for a few moments longer, I eventually made it downstairs to make toast. I was at least confident with my abilities not to burn the bread too harshly, and it turned out okay, from what I could tell. When I was about to sit down to eat, just cutting the slice into two, Dino ventured down into the kitchen, too. I considered passing a slice over to him, but considering how tolerable I had been towards him that day alone, I decided it would've been too out of character to me. I had sleep, so there was no excuse for me to use. He smiled at me as I settled myself down on the dining table, taking a bite out of my toast immediately as he started to make his own. He was right to expect me not to make anything for him—we weren't friends, nor did I want to strike up a conversation with him.

"Here." He set down a glass of water in front of me again. I accepted it without question, taking a sip as he added, "You're supposed to say thank you, you know."

I felt slightly mocked. "Thank you."

"Good." Dino laughed quite loudly, leaning across the table as he placed his free hand onto my head. I froze up from the surprise, not expecting him to be treating me somewhat like a dog and petting my head lightly. He withdrew his hand as quickly as it had came, grinning sheepishly as he saw my flabbergasted expression.

"...What was that?" I asked, forgetting about my food at that moment.

Dino seemed as surprised as I was for a moment. "What do you think it was?" he asked, though it seemed like he had no idea what else to say. If he was going to leave it to me to say what it was, it was only going to get more awkward than it was that morning. Well done, Dino, I thought, for ruining it already.

"Another mistake," I announced, pushing myself up from my chair quickly. I threw away the remainder of my meal, pushing the plate into the dishwasher before walking back upstairs quickly again. Maybe it was my reactions that weren't helping—did I need to be more violent, to show him not to get too close to me? Just trying to create conversation, awkward ones, at that, wasn't going to make up for the years that he wasn't there.

Maybe I was just being bitter from being left alone too long. It was a shock to the system, probably, to have someone trying to constantly talk to me, invade my personal space and try to get to know me better. I wasn't accustomed to it, and I had a feeling that I never would be. There was no chance in hell that I was going to apologise for how I was acting: that would've been admitting I was in the wrong, and although I could think that clearly, I was never going to say it. I knew I was stubborn and pigheaded, but with Dino there it was just making me realise it all over again. It wasn't as though I hated his entire existence, I just was used to being an only child.

Yet there I was, sat on my bed again as I had an older brother downstairs. If I had thought back to a week ago and had been told what would've happened, I would've punched whoever had said it in the face. It was that ridiculous.

When I realised what I was doing again, I had logged onto my laptop again, not opening up the game I had been playing before, but instead opening up the internet explorer to open a certain page. The forum. I recognised it immediately, cringing as it had quickly become one of my most visited pages. Closing the page almost instantly, I chose to open the instant messaging service instead. It wasn't as bad, I suppose, as I wouldn't have been tempted to play the game again. Even if I had quit after a day or so, curiosity had gotten the better of me last night, and that was what I had been busy with. Too bad it all reminded me of him, I thought begrudgingly.

_Namibird: Why are you always online?_

_Count Blonde: Why do you feel the need to question it? You should be welcoming me with loving arms._

Clearly, he had issues. Still, his comment made me smirk in slight amusement; it was the expected reaction, yet I still felt the need to shake my head to think normally again.

_Namibird: Welcome, loving arms? I don't think that's ever going to happen, sorry. I do have a question for you, though. It's regarding that game, you know the one where we were on the forum for?_

If he stilled played it, it was even better. I needed a mule, or even better someone to for scamming when I felt like it was appropriate. For some reason or another, I got the impression that Count Blonde wouldn't have minded if I framed him or got him suspended temporarily, as long as I told him beforehand myself. If that was the case, and I certainly hoped it was, it was actually going to be enjoyable relying on someone else to advance forward within a game.

_Count Blonde: Yeah, I know the one you're referring to. Do you still play it? I thought you'd quit since it was boring. How mean! If you have been playing all this time, I'm going to ignore you for five whole minutes. That will be your punishment, Nami. _

_Namibird: If that's my punishment, then from this day you'll be referred to as Coco. Hello, Coco._

It was starting to get frustrating referring to him as two names instead of one, and the _Coco _did come from Count, so It did seem slightly appropriate.

_Count Blonde: I am not a girl, that name is too feminine for me. Are you avoiding my question? I feel even more offended now! What am I supposed to be to you?_

"You're just my amusement," I murmured, pursing my lips afterwards. That was simply it, yet it didn't seem right when I said it aloud.

_Namibird: I started playing again last night. Properly, this time. It wasn't actually that bad, I was quite surprised. What's your name in game, if you still play?_

The words didn't seem right, but I still typed them. It wasn't my fault if it didn't fit my in real life persona—to him, I was simply a weird girl online. The majority of the players that claimed they were female, although I hadn't directly, were usually males originally. They just wanted to find some amusement as well, in the form of a boy toy online. For me, though, it wasn't that. I just wanted amusement, but it wasn't from pretending to be a different gender. It was just that one person's reactions, and that was it.

_Count Blonde: Same as everywhere, my main character has this name. You should have been able to guess that, shame on you. I do play it sometimes, but it'll be good to do some things with you there, too. Just tell me when you're online and I'll get on._

_Namibird: Get on now, then._

I really wasn't expecting to comply to my demand, so when I received a message saying that he just needed to switch over from his phone first, I was pleasantly surprised. Although I had wanted to originally stay away from the game for a while longer, if _Coco _was going to come online just because I said so, I had him more wrapped around my little finger that I had anticipated.

When Dino came into the room quickly, I ignored him almost completely. He sighed quietly to himself before grabbing one item and then walking back out, softly closing the door after him. He should have realised that he'd crossed the line, and since we were related, it was highly possible that he was too prideful to apologise properly. If it was a silent apology, I could have maybe accepted it, if it was apparent enough through his actions. It wasn't as though I wanted him to embrace me again—that had just felt weird the first time, and I didn't want a repeat of it.

Just for him to acknowledge he was in the wrong would've been enough. If meeting our cousins actually made him realise how odd the situation was, then I wouldn't have minded meeting her sooner.

When the sound of an instant message caught my attention, I almost jumped. I forgot that I'd logged onto the game to wait, let alone forget that I was still logged onto the messenger program. Frowning at my own stupidity for a moment, I then realised that I had a slight problem. My name wasn't the same as it was in most places, nor was my character female. It would have been odd for a _girl _to have been playing as a male character.

My solution was to create a new character, and propose that working through the game from the beginning would have been a good idea. Count Blonde agreed quickly, far too happily, too, before creating a new character as well. I'd lost track of time while we were playing, but at certain points he kept saying that he might have needed to go soon. That his little brother was having some sort of trouble sleeping lately. From what I had gathered from his sibling, he seemed to be a lot younger, and slightly dependant on him. Although Count Blonde had said that a few times, he never did leave. It was already late by the time I wanted to rub my eyes and go to sleep, but I was determined to at least advance further. What I had found out was interesting—if I asked for it, if it was within his capability, Count Blonde would give me it. Be it money, items or even helping me achieve a title, he happily helped out. He was just like a pet, except more annoying.

When it was just past three o'clock in the morning, he started to lag in responses. Before I knew it, there were none at all, nor was his character moving. There was no disconnection, either meaning he was being an idiot somewhere else, or had fallen asleep. I chose the latter after thirty more minutes had passed, frowning to myself before turning the laptop off, placing it on the floor before my head was pressed against my pillow.

I woke up briefly in the morning to the bedroom door opening, and as I assumed it was Dino, I carried on pretending to sleep, falling back soon enough after I'd heard him settle back down onto his bed.

When I woke up properly, I had to guess from the amount of sunlight that was streaming into the room that it was later that I had expected it to be. I grabbed my phone form the desk quickly, my eyes widening in shock for a moment when I saw that it was already past noon. I hadn't even woken up to go to school, but what was even more surprising was that there was a small note on the desk beside where my phone had been.

_I called school for you saying you were sick. You can thank me later. —Dino._

"Apology accepted," I murmured, shaking my head in disbelief from his actions. I wasn't exactly angry that I had missed a day, it was more the fact that he had assumed correctly that I didn't enjoy going there. I'd missed enough time as it was, and surely my attendance was low compared to the other students, but still. I laid back down onto my mattress, my arms over my eyes as I pursed my lips. Saying thank you was out of the question, even if he had taken the time to call up. Was he still in the house, too? The note hadn't said whether I was alone or not. "Idiot."

It seemed like a long time while I just laid in bed, so when the door creaked open, I stiffened from the surprise with my arm still covering my eyes.

"It seems like you needed that sleep." Dino laughed softly, obviously pleased that it was the right decision to leave me be. "How are you?"

Avoiding the question, still I was clearly fine, I asked, "Why did you take it upon yourself to do that? You're not at school as well. Why?"

"Caring for my attendance already?" He laughed again, that time louder at the absurdity of his question. There was no way that it was true, and he knew that, too. "I woke up late and when I came in here to see whether you'd gone or not, you were still asleep. So I thought this was a good idea."

If he hadn't woken up late, where was he sleeping? I distinctly remembered him wandering into the room when it was light, but I wasn't expecting him to fall asleep again, and then disappear off while I was sleeping myself. He was doing whatever he wanted, it seemed, and I felt the need to point out, "This doesn't count as bonding."

"It may not." He smiled as I sat up, raising an eyebrow at me when he saw my reaction. "But it's still going to be time spent together, isn't it?"

"Who says I'm going to stay in here and talk to you?" I asked, though I made no move from the position I was in. It could have simply been laziness, or curiosity as to why he was there. "Where did you sleep?"

"I fell asleep on the sofa." Dino laughed at himself, shaking his head in disbelief. I looked at him oddly for a moment; I knew that it wasn't exactly comfortable on the couch, yet he'd still managed to fall asleep there, meaning it had to be either quiet late, or he was absorbed within a show that was on the television. "I was helping a friend out, too. She was gone when I woke up."

My tone was practically revolted. "You let a girl into our house?" I asked, looking at him with an expression that not even I understood. Our parents had probably came back and went to bed quietly, and then gone away in the morning. Wouldn't they at least announce their disapproval if they'd seen a random girl within our home?

"No, no." He quickly shook his head in denial, seeming flustered by the accusation. "Online, Kyouya. She's just an internet friend."

"Hn." I'd jumped to my conclusion too quickly, making a fool out of myself in the end. I was supposed to let him be the fool, not allow myself to be open for mocking. Stupid Kyouya, I thought, averting my eyes in the process. "It still sounds suspicious."

"You're the one who sounded suspicious yesterday," he reminded me, but it was still the fault on his part from taking my words the wrong way that day. Laughing at my expression, Dino beamed at before stepping forward, settling himself down onto the end of my mattress. For a moment my eyes darted towards the blanket that was still upon me, but other than the quick glance, that was all I did to acknowledge it. I wasn't going to openly say thank you. "Actually, I have a reason for doing this." Again, he scratched his neck lightly from being nervous, grinning sheepishly while doing so.

"No shit." I snorted lightly. "What exactly is it?"

"Well," he trailed off, gulping, before running a hand through his blond tresses. His expression was conflicted as he avoided eye contact, looking at anything but my face. For some reason or another, I frowned at that. Probably from wanting a direct answer immediately, and becoming irked from the lack of response I was receiving. "Do you trust me?"

Rather than answering, I looked at him as though he was crazy. Dino continued to move closer to me, the same nervous expression on his face, and when he finally stopped, he was settled down just beside my feet under the duvet.

"Do you trust me?" he repeated, looking directly at me that time, yet he was still nervous. I could tell from the way he swallowed right after. "Kyouya," he added, as if expecting me to jump at the sound of my name.

"I don't." The question was ridiculous. I'd only known him a few days, and I certainly wasn't going to immediately say yes to his question. "Were you expecting me to say yes?" I murmured, far too quietly than I had anticipated myself to. I wanted to hear the question, for him to start to doubt himself, yet Dino's expression stayed the same, as if he hadn't seen my mouth move at all. If he was choosing to ignore it, I could humour him for awhile. I was curious over what it was about, too. If it's anything weird, I mused, I'll just push him away. "Yes?" It sounded more like a question than anything else.

"Then close your eyes," he proposed, still with the same serious expression. I carried on staring at him for a moment until I mentally shrugged my shoulders, my hand that was underneath the duvet started to curl into a fist around the material. It was just because I was uncomfortable, that was all. Eventually I did as he said, though I told myself it was because I wanted to, not because _he _wanted me to.

"Herbivore," I breathed, "what are you doing?" The weight upon the mattress moved as I heard the slight rustling of clothing.

Dino answer he as the seconds ticked by and just as I was about to open my eyes, get up and move away, I froze in surprise when I felt his breath fanning across my ear. Not a moment later he tugged quickly on my cartilage before pulling away, far enough so I couldn't hear his breathing as distinctively as before.

"Did you... just _bite _my ear?" I spluttered, pushing myself back so I could be further away from him. My expression was incredulous as I looked at him incredulously, and Dino only returned the look with a blank one of his own.

"Yes?" he said, his voice making it sound as though it was one of the most natural things to do to pass the time. "Wait, Kyouya." His eyes widened as he realised my reaction and as I was practically shaking in humiliation, the clenched fist below the duvet was becoming more tempting to reveal.

"That's exactly why I don't trust you, Dino." Using his actual name was more effective that I could have hoped. He paled slightly before swallowing again, not sure whether to speak up or not. Before he was properly given the chance to do so, I cut in again. "Are you doing all of this just to mock me? Am I _just _a source of amusement for you?"

As I processed my own words, a small bubble of guilt built in the pit of my stomach. If that was how it felt to just be there for amusement, then certainly I was making someone feel like it, too.

"That wasn't my intention!" he quickly cut in with wide eyes, as if trying to tell me to listen to him. I shot him a look of disgust before averting my eyes again, choosing whether to kick him off of my bed first, or simply punch him.

"Whatever you say, something that weird won't make any sense," I said lowly, narrowing my eyes as he placed his face into his palm. Sighing a little, Dino mumbled something to himself, that I couldn't make out at all. "Just get out already."

"Messed up again," Dino murmured louder, shooting me another odd look before he seemed to reach a revelation. "That wasn't supposed to be sexual at all." He flushed slightly from the accusation, my own expression mirroring his as he said it. I hadn't expected him to view it that way at all. "Are you... awkward about things like that?" he asked quietly, the blush only darkening across his cheeks.

I wanted to laugh to myself at the ridiculous of the situation. It had gone from worse to ridiculous in one a few sentences, and it was all his fault again. His assumption did sting a tiny bit, though, even if it was correct. Did I come across as a prude to him? It wasn't exactly one of the topics we should have been talking about, but regardless, I wasn't going to walk away with him still being ridiculous.

"Not at all," I lied, raising my eyebrows as I shuffled backwards again. My back soon pressed against the frame of the bed awkwardly, flinching at how cold the metal felt.

The blush only deepened across our faces. I was sure that I looked ridiculous with the colour staining my face, yet I couldn't will it to go away enough. "Has Dad had _that _talk with you yet?"

How old did he think I was? They taught the common points in school, so there really was no way that I had no clue at all. If Dino's intention behind the whole day was just to talk to be about the birds and bees, as people lightly put up, I think he needed some serious help. A few whacks to his head might have helped, too, free of charge. "I'm only a year younger than you," I said stubbornly, squaring the jaw.

"Yeah," he said softly, "you are." Dino was silent, finally, but the silence didn't last long before he asked far too loudly, "Does that mean you have a girlfriend?" That question was a bit personal. I stiffened from the sudden attention, not sure how to answer at all. "Or just someone you like?" Dino added after he noticed my lack of enthusiasm.

"That depends on what you mean by like." I raised an eyebrow.

As his blush returned, mine had finally gone. "Well, you know..."

"No," I interrupted before he could speak again. "I don't know."

"Forget it, then." He smiled. "It's not important."

**AN: **There have been some changes to this story: Alaude and Oregano have been made into the parents, so the previous chapters have been changed to fit. Speech, descriptions and such. Please excuse me for uploading a wrong chapter the other day, I was supposed to be changing a previous one. Apart from that, that's all that has been changed. Just the parents.

I feel the need to point out that Dino only has a brother complex at the moment. There's no love, crush, whatever you want to call it. While Kyouya, on the other hand, is practically itching to talk to _Coco_. Haru's got a small but important part within this story, but there will be no romantic situations between her, Kyouya, or just about anyone. The only romance will be going on between the main two. Mukuro's just a friend along with Nagi, too. For the suggestions on how to get Count Blonde's little brother to like him, Aki helped me with them. She said ridiculous things about training a dog and I chose the idiotic ways to carry them out.

Warm water on his hand while he's sleeping? Put a blanket on him to keep him warm. Bend him over the table and treat him like a bitch? Pretend he's a puppy and pet him across the table. And... yeah. Just bite his ear and attempt to lecture about the birds and the bees. That works well, really.

I apologise for the lack of my updates lately, but I'll attempt to get back on track with them.


	7. Schemes

**ZirciX: **I love you, too! Haha, there's nothing sexual about this just yet. There's a little bit in this chapter, though. Hmm... The general plot for this is family and relationships. I don't really know where I'm going with it, but I can say it's gonna be... different to my other fics. I want it to seem realistic, even a bit. ;_; I'll take your suggestion at some point! **TheFeyRa: **I don't like side pairings at all, they piss me off lol. Who knows? Aki was probably joking when she was telling me them, as I've never had a dog. Ever. I only have cats. **Eyes 17k: **lool listen to the pedophiles online and end up in jail XD That is what's happening to Dino! **simply anonymous: **Oh gosh yes, he did just bite Kyouya's ear! I don't think he's aware at all, he's an idiot XD **I Like To Stalk You: **A caring idiot on the internet, oho! D'aww it's definitely going to be more awkward than you think it will be. Don't you worry, I'm building up to it!**  
**

_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter seven—Schemes

When I opened my eyes and noticed that it was still dark while there was a light coating of sweat across my body, I gulped. I was expecting the worse immediately and it seemed that things really weren't going my way. Without having to check under the covers to confirm the situation, since I could tell within a few seconds, I darted out of my bed as quickly and as quickly as possible, reaching for a new pair of underwear as I crossed the room. When the door opened I stared down at Dino just to make sure that he was still asleep, therefore wasn't conscious to witness my cheeks stained with embarrassment.

I couldn't pass it off as being frustrated. I hadn't done anything in the past, so there was really no reason for me to have suspected so; it was just a strange dream that I couldn't remember. Slapping my cheeks slightly after I'd turned the tap on and practically flooded the sink, I was finally starting to calm down. I washed my boxers quickly before placing them into my laundry basket, creeping back into bed and hiding under my covers as I held my breath. Dino made no sound for a few minutes, and when he did it was just to sigh to himself in his sleep.

Almost hesitantly I closed my eyes, cursing my urges inside my mind.

From being far too cautious, and choosing to blame it on Dino being an idiot the night before and biting my ear, I kept our conversations as quick and straight to the point as possible. We didn't see each other at school on the Friday, but spoke briefly over the dinner table while Mother was there, too, seemingly watching us like a hawk. It was understandable that she was curious about whether we were getting along or not, especially since she herself was fond of Dino. To me there had never been a concern as to who the favourite child was—I was alone, after all—yet it was strikingly obvious that it was Dino. It didn't hurt at all to acknowledge it, though, which surprised me slightly. I still didn't consider him to be my own flesh and blood, and that was all there was to it. He seemed to be someone that had been adopted into the family, almost like a pet.

When he spoke to me that night, I only nodded when I needed to. I was too embarrassed to go to sleep straight away, willing myself to keep my thoughts away from anything dangerous and ended up playing a game instead again. My idea wasn't as good as I had hoped—no one interesting was online and since I forgot I was still logged onto the instant messaging program, when Mukuro popped up I'd signed off immediately; well, rather, put the laptop into sleep and then stubbornly stared at my wall.

Saturday had been more difficult. As a reflex I'd hidden all the programs open on my laptop when Dino had stepped into the room. It wasn't as though I was looking at anything rude or forbidden, I was conversing with Count Blonde but I felt the need to hide it. Dino took the hint that I didn't want to talk and kept his comments to himself while the idiot on the internet who I was slowly starting to regard as a friend was complaining about his brother.

_Namibird: You have a brother complex, don't you?_

I'd smirked knowingly when he went silent for a few minutes before denying it frequently. The next day when the topic came up, he did the exact same thing before he claimed that it was my fault. Of course, I'd snorted in real life before covering up my reaction by clearing my throat, ignoring the odd look that Dino sent my way. He had opened his mouth to talk, but I'd glared to cut him off.

When we cooked dinner together, he was even more silent than me. The only noise was my pet bird cheeping as he moved around the kitchen before I coaxed him into the garden to feed.

"Given up?" I murmured mostly to myself as I was chopping some of the vegetables. Dino paused while moving until he carried on as if nothing happened, and I found myself gripping the knife far too tightly. I shook my head to get my thoughts in order—it was to be expected, I knew that it would have happened at some point. Dino had just seemed like he had cared at first, at least enough to have wanted to meet me. My personality could have never been shown properly in pictures, so he had definitely had the wrong idea about me. I was just a disappointment, right? "No surprise there." It was always that way.

Dino kept quiet.

It then seemed that he was the one that was purposely avoiding me. When I'd step into our bedroom, surprisingly he'd walk out. At first I'd turned a blind eye at it, but then it was getting increasingly annoying. He had no reason to be that way, did he? I was the one that was affected more than him, plus, more embarrassed, too. I had my reasons and he certainly did not. He was just a ridiculous pet out of control.

When we finally did speak, I was sure I wanted to crawl in a hole and rest there for a few hours.

"Kyouya," he called when I was picking up my school bag from under the desk. I looked over my shoulder, narrowing my eyes when I saw that he was perched on the end of my bed. At least he looked as awkward as I was feeling just looking at him. "We need to talk."

Oh, so that was it. "Is that so?"

If he had been smiling while he patted the duvet next to him, it would have seemed mocking. However, as he had a straight expression I chose to sit down on the other end as he crossed his arms. "I've been here over a week." If it was him announcing things I already knew, I didn't want to hear it. "And we haven't sorted something out."

"Spit it out, Dino."

Dino hid his face in his hands after that, but from the movement I could see that his ears had turned pink as well. "What do we do if we need to... you know?"

I blinked, perplexed. "What?"

"Now is not the time for you to be adorably oblivious," he complained into his hands, still not looking me into the eye. I didn't know whether to take his complaint as an insult or not, so I simply shuffled along the bed to kick him lightly in the shin to hurry up. "We're constantly around each other in this house so..."

Not lately while we're avoiding each other, I reminded myself, frowning as I realised he seemed to be ignoring that small fact. Pretending as if nothing was happening, he was. "So?" I pressed.

His ear was still a shade of bright red. "What are we going to do if we need to let it out?"

"Let it," I repeated, furrowing my eyebrows, "out?" Only after I had said it aloud did I realise what he was referring to and flushed in mortification. That meant he'd definitely heard—I'd probably been too loud in my sleep and he was catching on about it. Was that why he was leaving me alone, since I'd ruined the odd image he had had of me by moaning to myself? Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took in a deep breath. "Just keep it to yourself." So you don't bring it up any more, I added mentally.

And with that said we seemed to fall back into what we were doing for, not acknowledging each other at all and letting me be embarrassed in peace.

_Namibird: If you ignore someone, is there usually an important reason why?_

I was going mad, that was all. I was perched upon the rooftop leaning against a wall, shivering lightly from the breeze, and the only source of conversation for me was from instant messaging. Mukuro had, of course, shot me a odd look as I walked out the classroom immediately, only leaving my bag upon my desk as I had nothing better to do. It might have been that I wanted to be careful in case Dino came looking for me, though, from his recent attitude I knew that it was anything but. Dino hadn't spoken to me properly after our conversation that morning and since I'd walked away, I supposed that it was my fault.

Shaking my head, I brought my attention back to that moment and willed myself to stop thinking about I'd unintentionally caused what I had wanted to happen. I had done a countless number of things the last week or so, and yet in my sleep I was able to do it. Wasn't that too hard to accept? It was almost insulting to myself.

_Count Blonde: Of course. Haven't you ever ignored someone to get their attention? It works sometimes. They become annoyed and think about what they've done and you just laugh quietly to yourself and turn your head away when they make eye contact. And then, you talk and somehow feel closer, you know?_

Dino definitely wasn't doing that. He had initiated a conversation hinting at what had caused the rift.

_Namibird: That just sounds idiotic. Let me guess, you tried that on the girl you liked and it seemed to work?_

Was Count Blonde having a hard time at school, or was he just odd enough to pick messaging with me over talking to others? I wasn't sure, but there had to have been a reason why we were both talking through lunch.

_Namibird: Where are your friends? You should be with them._

_Count Blonde: Very funny. I've known you longer. Plus they've heard a strange rumour about me, so the conversations are awkward. I'm not allowed to tell the truth, too. Do you know how awkward it is trying to smile and say you can't answer any questions?_

Rumours? They were certainly bad, and for myself I was surprised that Mukuro hadn't spread any about Dino and I. In fact he hadn't spoke about Dino at all when we'd seen each other; had he given up on that idea? Telling him the truth might have been a good move, but then again he could have easily spread that around, too.

"Having Dino as my boyfriend," I murmured, "or brother?" Which was supposed to be better? We didn't look alike, we didn't act the same and we certainly didn't have the same personality. There was nothing that matched at all, and we didn't even share the same last name. Indubitably, anyone would assume the first.

_Namibird: I wouldn't smile and go along with it. Just say the truth and quit being a herbivore._

_Count Blonde: You really do remind me of someone, Nami. It's quite nice, actually. Although I have to say I'm closer to you than I am to them. I'm guessing you're staying with saying you have no friends?_

As usual I called him an idiot and assumed that he needed to get his mentality checked. For choosing to talk to me rather than someone else, I supposed the feeling was mutual. It was slightly ironic how the first person I was willing to label as a friend of sorts happened to be over the internet, even if we lived in the same town. I would never be found out, too, as my identity was completely different than what was assumed. Did it seem like I was tricking him? He had started it—it had seemed amusing, so I humoured him. He was the one dooming himself.

"I'm not doing anything wrong," I assured myself, closing my eyes. There was still a small feeling of guilt, though; was that how pedophiles on the internet felt when they were claiming to be less than half their age? "It's his fault."

_Namibird: We're both from Namimori, aren't we?_

Checking was a safe thing to do. What if Mukuro had lied and said a completely different place and that was where he had thought I lived?

_Count Blonde: We are. _

That was when a thought hit me. I had practically lived in the town all of my life and I was sure there weren't that many high schools there. There were none specifically for boys alone, though there was for girls, and I was certain there was only one for both genders. "Please no," I murmured, gnawing on my lip as I pressed the keys of my phone.

_Namibird: Then what school do you go to? You've never mentioned it._

"I don't have to tell him that I go here." Count Blonde would have been looking out for a girl. I was most certainly not a female, meaning I was safe. If we didn't pass each other while messaging, that was. What if he was in one of my classes? Lying about his appearance, too? There were countless possibilities as to who he was and I was imagining the worst. What if Count Blonde happened to be one of the random males that I had threatened in my anger beforehand?

_Count Blonde: The normal high school, of course. I'm flattered that you're finally taking an interest in me. Have you fallen for my charms?_

He was in one of the classrooms below me, then. I blinked, uncertain on what to answer and chose to focus on his last sentence. I insulted him, again of course, and then signed off as I was sure that I was late for class as it was anyway.

When I was settled down in my seat again, I found it odd that he wasn't concerned at all about revealing personal information. Wasn't he being far too carefree? There were worse people on the internet than me, but that wasn't the point. He could have easily gotten a stalker by the time we finally revealed who we were.

"Stop grinning at me, Mukuro."

It was impossible to try and ignore his stare. I purposely turned my head to the other side, to look out of the window, but I froze when I thought about the possibilities. Count Blonde could have been in one of the classrooms opposite where I was—would we accidentally look at each other, and not realise it?

"I find it amusing when you furrow your eyebrows," he remarked. "You're thinking terribly hard about something. This is rare, rare indeed."

I blinked to snap myself out of it. If Mukuro had even noticed that my attention was more on my thoughts, there was something definitely wrong with me at that moment. "It would be rarer for you to be quiet."

"Lovely." He laughed, not offended at all from what I had said. As usual it was his behaviour that made me shake my head in exasperation; there were only a limited amount of ways to make him annoyed and considering the location, it didn't seem like a good idea right then. Though, I could have saved it until I was more bored than before. "Do you remember what we spoke about before?"

"Our conversations are mostly horrible, to be honest. Why would I remember each and every one?" I scowled.

"Your date with Nagi," he clarified, smirking from ear to ear as the teacher rambled on. "You still haven't set a date for it. Shall I do it for you?"

I'd forgotten about that. Nagi and I looked at each other in a different way then Mukuro assumed, so it couldn't exactly be classed as that. "I don't have her phone number." I shrugged, using the truth as an excuse. I had her and Mukuro's home number, but that was all. I never particularly liked talking to either of their parents—Mukuro's mother seemed nice enough, but his dad was just plain creepy. I understood where Mukuro got his odd aura from when I looked at him.

"Excuses." He tutted dramatically before taking in a deep breath. Raising an eyebrow in a mocking movement, Mukuro crossed his arms while tilting his head to the side to shift his bangs. "Nagi has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so that's the rest of the day off for her. You'll amuse her, won't you?"

"I'm not going to the hospital with her." They were far too quiet, and the smell of medicine and general cleanliness was off putting when in that bright white place. "Instead of being her date, you mean her chauffeur, don't you?" I could have dealt with that easily. Nagi was easy enough to get along with, and if it was just her alone I would have been fine.

"No." He smiled knowingly. "After her appointment is when I want you to meet her."

Something was wrong with the situation. "I'm not your minion."

His smile was sarcastic and strained, not quite reaching his eyes. "Thanks to someone I finally got put on report," Mukuro said evenly although his expression contradicted the tone. "That means I can't skip school for awhile."

"You actually care about your education now?" I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. We had both been awful with our attendance in middle school, although it was exactly intentional, and had been on report multiple times, too. It just meant that teachers had to check up on whether we were there and submit it into the reception or a higher up teacher. "How times have changed."

"Oh, yes," he agreed as I blinked in surprised. "I'm staying in school and you're trying to keep your sexuality and boyfriend all to yourself." His voice had gradually gotten louder at the end of his sentence and I wanted to press my forehead against my desk when a few in the class turned around to see what was happening.

Payback was easy. "Mukuro's mother used to dress him as a girl," I said loudly in a clear voice.

The consequences, however, I could deal with just as easily. I was sent out for a few minutes, yet when I'd stood up I'd picked my bag up, too, as I chose to just venture home. There was no point in staying since it was the last lesson, after all. I wasn't going to learn anything from being lamely reprimanded. As I walked through the streets, curisity caused me to sign onto the program upon my phone again, sighing in disbelief when I saw that he was still online.

_Namibird: Don't you ever go offline?_

_Count Blonde: Only when I venture into the big bad world. What else am I supposed to do through history class?_

_Namibird: If it's the bald teacher, you should just skip like I am._

I'd typed and sent my message before I had completely thought it through. If Count Blonde put two and two together, it was obvious that I was admitting that we went to the same school. I hadn't said where I had been from, after all, but that didn't stop myself from slipping up. "Shoot," I murmured, gnawing on my lip as I saw that he was typing a message.

_Count Blonde: Good idea. Though, I quite like my reflection on his scalp when he comes to wake me up during class. One more time I'm caught then my parents are being called; I don't want to be a bother, you see. Oh, life story time! Why are you skipping, dear Nami?_

I almost snorted at his comment. Of course it had happened to me, too, but when I'd opened my eyes as he'd stepped closer to me, there was no touching involved. The thought of him possibly sitting in a seat I had previously been in was enough to make my expression bemused.

_Namibird: I got sent out. It's the last lesson so I didn't see the point in staying._

Being honest could not have hurt, and that was what I hadn't thought thoroughly enough about.

_Count Blonde: You're a troublemaker, eh? I never expected anything less from you. I could probably ask someone about a girl causing trouble and then meet you without us revealing ourselves on the internet. Want to see who can find each other first?_

All I had to do was enquire about transfer students who were male and, if he wasn't lying, had blond hair. There were no clues as to who I was, I smirked, so I was certain Count Blonde's chances of winning were nil. There was no challenge, though, to spice things up.

_Namibird: Then what does the winner get?_

I surprised even myself by feeling the corner of my lip twitch at the possibilities. His face would have been amusing enough as I revealed myself, even the gender to boot, but then it dropped when I realised something crucial. Our talking would cease, and he would take it as though it was set up as a joke. Was that what it was, still? I had only wanted to speak for selfish reasons, not considering his feelings. It had been arranged perfectly in my mind when I hadn't known how close he could have been to me at any given time. If I had to _see _his dejected face or even a disgusted expression whenever our eyes met, would I want that?

"This hobby seems sick," I murmured.

_Count Blonde: I'll kiss you._

Without warning I sucked in a breath of horror and promptly started to have a coughing fit while I felt my face redden from the action. By the time I had controlled the watering eyes and the squeezing within my chest—after looking around to make sure no one had seen it—I checked his message again.

_Count Blonde: I'm kidding! Whatever the winner wants, they get and the loser can't back out of it. Agreed?_

_Namibird: Don't start yet. All I need to ask for is a new student, correct? Give it a few weeks. It'll be far too easy to find you. Plus I barely want to speak to you here, how would I handle you in real life?_

The last part was a lie but I could keep that to myself; or, rather, I was determined to keep it to myself. We talked until the end of his lesson after that—I'd made it home by the time that came around, and as Count Blonde far too enthusiastically bid me farewell while pretending to be old fashioned, of course, my stomach rumbled. When I was just putting my food into a bowl, the front door opened, clearly indicating that I'd taken longer than I'd expected. Dino still didn't acknowledge me, or even look my way from what I could tell, as he slipped off his shoes before walking through into the kitchen. He reached into the fridge for a drink, still not saying a word as I put the pan back down.

"Are you still doing this?" I voiced my thought aloud, not regretting letting it slip. I stirred my food within the bowl, not flinching as he shut the fridge door and continued to be quiet. "Dino," I ground out.

If he had walked away without making any type of noise, I wouldn't have felt as offended as I did at that moment. As I looked over my shoulder, Dino started to whistle quietly while walking away. I ground my teeth together, to try and stop the irritation and convince myself not to do anything rash, but it didn't matter.

"This is why I didn't want you here," I drawled loudly, staring at him as he slowly walked away, "I knew you'd only bother for a limited amount of time and then give up completely."

For only a moment before he went upstairs, Dino made eye contact with me. "I'm only giving you what you want."

He infuriated me even more. I had wanted that in the beginning, announced it a few times, too, but why he had chosen then to finally do what I had wanted? Things could have changed, much like they had with Count Blonde. Though, I was hardly going to admit that to anyone. I ate my food after that before choosing to stay downstairs, distancing myself from him, and eventually found myself perched upon the sofa with my arms crossed. It soon became apparent that I had no idea what to do with myself, so when the house phone rang, I had no choice but to answer it.

"Yes?" I asked in a even voice, for once.

"Meet Nagi at noon, Kyouya." I didn't want to imagine how I would have to explain Dino being at my house if he had been the one to answer the phone. I hung up without replying, not seeing the need to at all. I was just going to keep his adopted sister company after she'd had tests done, as a replacement, that was all.

The thought of me being a replacement while Dino was being mine was odd enough. I shook my head to get my thoughts under control, realising my boredom as I stared down at my feet. What was there to do, especially if I didn't want to venture upstairs? "Stubborn."

For the first time in weeks I went outside to cure me of my irritation. I took it out on someone rather than a wall or something remotely similar inside of my home; although I felt a stab of guilt when I'd walked back through the front door and went upstairs as quickly as possible not to let my parents see that there was some blood on me. It would have been classed as irresponsible, and I would have been told to get my priorities straight. What were my priorities at that moment, anyway? I asked myself. There were barely any. The most responsibility I had was a pet, and I didn't have anyone else relying on me. That was all there was to it—purpose? What purpose was there?

"None," I murmured before discarding my dirty and stained clothes and proceeding to shower.

Dino was too busy focusing on his laptop to even acknowledge me when I walked into the room. Though, wasn't that what I had wanted in the beginning? As much as it had been, it made my mood become worse again. As much as I wanted to pick something up and throw it at him, I knew it was better off that way. It meant I had time to myself again, but the only thing I had to watch out for was when I was dreaming, really.

_Count Blonde: So you finally came online now? It's almost nine!_

I blinked. Was it really that late? I hadn't thought I'd spent that long outside, but I was proven wrong when I looked in the corner of my screen. Leaning back again the wall, I massaged my temple as I felt a headache coming on.

_Namibird: You make it sound as though I'm on all of the time. That's you, not me._

_Count Blonde: Very funny. I'm just busy doing something on here lately, so I thought signing on to talk to people would be good for my attention. Otherwise I'm never going to finish it._

It made no sense that he was wasting time by talking to people online instead of concentrating on whatever he should have been.

_Namibird: Another game? I forgot you played more than me._

I hadn't been bothered with signing onto play anything lately, choosing to waste my time doing ridiculous things. Now that I looked back on it, bruising my hands wasn't a good idea to burn time. I winced as I typed far too quickly, shaking my head to attempt to get used to the pain without making any unnecessary noises. Pain was easy to handle, I _knew _I could handle it easily, as I'd become accustomed to it over the years. I had somehow unintentionally settled down as Dino had appeared and thrown me off the sort of routine that I had. Maybe it was the possibility that if he heard about it at the school, he would've told our father about it. Another lecture and a disapproving look wasn't what I wanted to hear—to know I was a disappointment was enough, hearing it in words wasn't good for my ego. All because he was there, I mused, I was being thrown off my usual things. I couldn't do what I pleased within my own home at any given time.

_Count Blonde: Not playing anything right now! I'm doing something for my little brother. _

_Namibird: You really do have a complex. That's disgusting._

It had been awhile since he had mentioned his brother. He definitely had a brother complex, especially since he wanted to ask me advice on multiple occasions. What was I supposed to say? Some of the things I said were ridiculous, yet he still believed me. Were all idiots like that? Out of the corner of my eye, I peeked at Dino while wondering whether he'd be like that, too.

We made eye contact again for a moment before he looked back at his screen. Just as I thought, I mused, he really was never worth my time.

_Count Blonde: Is it? I think it's nice to have someone to occupy your time with. Do you have anyone like that?_

I definitely did not. And I didn't want to either—to occupy my time by being with someone else would have been tedious. The closest thing I had would have been Dino annoying me the week before, or even logging on with the sole purpose of talking to Count Blonde. A lot of friends, I told myself sarcastically.

I'd logged off so I didn't have to answer him, choosing to sleep as I'd tired myself out from venting earlier that day. Dino wasn't bothered when I turned the light off, switching to a small lamp that was sure not to keep me awake from the small amount of light it gave out. Purposely turning so my back was towards him, I was only disturbed briefly when he paused in his typing to clap to himself. Scoffing, I pulled the duvet over my head.

Dino didn't question why I was getting up for school. For some reason, though, he stayed in bed for longer than necessary. Checking my phone underneath the duvet, it was ten o'clock in the morning when he finally ventured out dressed in his uniform, not sparing me a glance as he practically ran outside after drying his hair. I shook my head at his behaviour, purposely stepping all over his duvet to make creases before taking another shower. I still felt dirty from yesterday; and if I happened to miss a few splatters, I was unsure of how to explain them properly.

"Oh." I realised something important after I'd stepped outside of my house. "I don't have her number." I supposed that standing outside of the hospital was good enough, and that's what I did in the end. I'd miscalculated the time by the end of it, ending up sitting upon a low brick wall while opening up a specific program on my phone. As usual I was still surprised that he was online at such a time.

_Namibird: Do you ever actually pay attention to your classes?_

He was probably kicked out of his old school for either bad attendance or grades. That, or he wasn't smart enough to stay in and transferred to hide his shame. As I thought that, though, I realised that my view of him was more warped than it should have been. "I need to stop judging people so much."

_Count Blonde: Do you ever go to yours? I'm not in class! I've got to get something important from a shop, so I'm either going to be really late or just not go at all._

_Namibird: You've finally grown up._

_Count Blonde: Thank you, thank you. I try my best._

"Kyouya?"

Within the few minutes I was talking to him, I forgot what my purpose for being there was. Looking up quickly, I blinked in surprise when I caught sight of Nagi. It hadn't been that long since I had last seen her, but she was definitely looking different than before. Her hair was still like Mukuro's but more of a shade of purple, but what caught my attention the most was what was covered.

"You have an eye patch," I said simply, wanting to roll my eyes at my intelligent remark.

"Yeah," Nagi confirmed, brushing one of the strands of her hair behind her ear. She looked around us, obviously adjusting to just seeing with one eye, before she looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. "Where's Mukuro?"

"In trouble at school." I rolled my eyes that time. "So I'm here instead. Is there a problem with that?"

To my surprise Nagi laughed at what I had said, shaking her head in response. "I was expecting that sooner or later. I just need to go to the pharmacy and then I'm going home."

Quick and easy. "Let's go, then."

Conversation was lacking as we were walking, but I was fine with it, just like Nagi was, too. She kept adjusting the eye patch and being too concerned about what others thought of it, pretending to brush her hair and covering it with her palm when we passed a group of people. I eventually sighed to myself before reaching out for her right hand, pulling it back down to her side before staring with a disapproving expression. She understood, I hoped, before flushing from being caught. Letting her have her hands back to herself, I watched in my peripheral vision to see if she would do it again.

She was only fourteen, and yet she was already concerned with what others thought? Though, when she went back to middle school with it I was sure she'd be worried and try and take a day off.

When she played with it again, I groaned under my breath. "You still have your eye, don't you?"

"I do." She blinked, turning her head to stare at me with a confused expression. "This is only temporary, well, it might be temporary. It depends on how well it heals."

She really was an idiot sometimes. "Then you're just like everyone else." Since when had I been able to turn insults into comforting words? It seemed to have that effect on Nagi as a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She nodded instead of answering, staring straight ahead as we fell back into silence. She only waved for a moment before disappearing into a shop to receive some medicine, while I leaned against the wall outside with my arms crossed over my chest. What was I doing with my day? Although it was thirty minutes taken out of it for her, I was sure that I should have gone to school instead.

When I checked the time on my phone, I realised that I was still logged on, and Count Blonde had left a few messages.

_Count Blonde: Are you busy actually paying attention to class? I assume you are. I'm proud of you, girl. You're finally learning!_

_Count Blonde: Learning or you've fallen asleep. So rude, so rude._

He was offline by that time, so I wasn't able to respond with anything while I was on my phone. I murmured a curse under my breath before closing the program, determined not to lose my temper over something so little. There was only a few minutes left before I was going to be home. Nagi was taking longer than I expected, though. After a couple more minutes had passed I reached into my pocket to check the time again. That time I was interrupted. I was practically knocked to the side as someone put their arms around me while I panicked and elbowed them in the stomach as a reflex.

"What the hell?" I said aloud, turning angrily to see who was keeled over while clutching their stomach. "Dino?" I asked in disbelief.

Despite the pain I was sure he was feeling, he managed to laugh weakly. "God, Kyouya, that was just a hug." As he glanced up at me, I wasn't sure what my expression was—though, I quickly noticed that he wasn't even wearing his school uniform, nor was he in school at all. He was skipping and then decided to swap his personality for a few minutes? Really, my brother is an idiot, I mused. "You weren't supposed to bloody attack me from showing my love."

Crazy, he was absolutely crazy. "I don't know you."

"You know me." He grinned, straightening up before wincing slightly from moving too quickly. He put his hands on the wall either side of me, stopping me from moving away and causing my eyebrow to lift up from disbelief. Did he expect me not to injure him more? Not only was the strange behaviour confusing, the sudden invasion of my personal space wasn't comfortable. "And if you insist that we really don't then you're going to be happy in a few minutes."

"Go away." I pushed his shoulder with one hand, the other clenched half-heartedly by my thigh as a precaution. "What's with the personality switch? You're supposed to be ignoring me, as I am with you." Why wasn't I angry about it? The attention was too spontaneous and I certainly didn't enjoy his breath across my face. At least he brushed his teeth, though.

Dino didn't move. "I didn't want you to find out about something."

"Huh?" I said lamely. Ridiculous remarks seemed to be my speciality that day. I looked at him as though he'd grown another head in a matter of seconds. As I was sure I had a dumbstruck expression, Dino grinned more before revealing a parcel from behind me, one that happened to be wrapped in a colourful paper. "What is this?"

"It's for you," he said proudly, grinning from ear to ear as he pressed it against my chest. Removing my hand from his shoulder, I hesitantly held onto the package, glancing back up at his expression to see whether it was a joke or not. I didn't know whether to take offence to the lilac shade of the paper, but at least there wasn't a bow upon it. "You're making me impatient. Open it already!"

"No." I pressed it back onto his chest, pushing hard enough for him to stumble back before taking a step forward to be in his position before, blocking me from moving. He frowned while taking the present back into his hands, furrowing his eyebrows. "I want a damn explanation."

He blinked. "About what?"

"About why you've treated me like a piece of dirt for days," I ground out, stubbornly crossing my arms over my chest. "You've barely even looked at me."

To my surprise he smiled warmly. "Is it bad of me to be happy that you care?"

"You should be shot." I scowled, not exactly approving of the response he'd given me. "Now explain, Dino, before I bruise more than just your stomach."

"Okay, okay." He laughed, holding the present up again. "This is why I was neglecting you. If we were talking a lot you would have found out far too easy. I wanted it to be a secret to surprise you." Dino pushed it towards me again, pressing it into my arms while they were still crossed. "Open it and see already. You're making me anxious."

I still wasn't convinced. Wasn't it because he heard me, and then decided that I was a disappointment "Give me one reason why I should do anything you want me to." He was being too nice—was it to trick me into thinking that he actually cared again? I wasn't going to fall for the same thing twice; I should have proved that when I reacted to his hug that time.

"Open it," he said again, softer that time as he gently pressed it into my hands. "You'll understand soon."

Maybe I was expecting a bomb or something I wouldn't care for. I was surprised, however, when I begrudgingly ripped the wrapping paper off and shoved it into his hands—trying to ignore his smile and expecting eyes in the process—and stared down at a black photo album. There had never been any within our home, so I hadn't been able to hold that many for years. The small ones that came from school with the photos weren't wroth buying so the present seemed spiteful more than anything. Dino had received photographs of me while I was growing up, and I hadn't had any of him at all. Was he showing off, rubbing what I'd missed out on in my face?

"You don't have to try hard to be offensive," I hissed, shoving it back into his hands. Dino looked shocked for a moment before he thrust it back to me. "I don't want it."

"You're supposed to be happy." He furrowed his eyebrows. "And you haven't even looked inside of it yet. I spent time and effort on it, don't throw it away yet."

"Fine," I snapped, not sure what I was hoping for when I flipped through to a random page. I blinked in surprise, staring down at the page as though I was imagining things. There was a picture of me when I was sure I was at least nine and then Dino was in it, too. At least from afar and just flipping through it, it had looked like he was there, when it was just two pictures stuck together. The edges around the picture of Dino weren't very well cut; I could see the odd edges and where it didn't blend, where the background was still in tact and not cut off completely. "...What is this?"

"You keep saying that you don't know me," he explained slowly with a smug tone, "so I made these and had them printed at a shop today. Whenever I got sent a picture of you, I'd make sure one was taken of me a few days after just to show you when we finally met."

I looked through a few more pages, and true to his word, Dino had stuck a picture of himself at what he said was roughly the same time on each other them. I ran my finger over a few of the pictures to see whether they were the originals, yet they were obviously scanned in and then edited on a computer. Was that why he had been on his laptop constantly? As much as I didn't want to believe him, the evidence was stacking up.

"Do you like it?" Dino asked, pressing his forehead against mine.

I was still busy looking down at the pages, turning to the last. The picture was from what seemed like a few weeks before he'd arrived as we both didn't look any different than we did at that moment. "These look like a five-year-old made them."

"I'm not five," he defended himself as colour rose to his cheeks. I head butted his forehead to push him away, making it so there were some distance between us. Dino took two steps back while rubbing his forehead with a smile, still, his expression still expectant. "Is it really that bad?"

"It is," I confirmed. "I don't forgive you."

"I forgot that this is a slow process." He laughed before having a serious expression. "Why aren't you in school?"

"Why aren't you?" I countered, closing the photo album before being unsure whether to give it back to him or just hold it down by my side. "You're supposed to be the good child."

"Good child?" Dino repeated before bursting out laughing. "You never do anything wrong! Isn't it you? I keep breaking things and getting scolded by Mom. Then I obviously did something wrong with you and thought it was time to finally make that album."

Holding up one hand, I slowly counted down on my fingers as I kept a neutral expression. "I get into fights, skip classes." Two fingers were curled down. "Be rude to our parents, I choose to have no friends." There was only one left. "I'm considered a disappointment. Do I win?"

"No, you're just being ridiculous." He flicked my forehead with his thumb and index finger as I hissed from embarrassment. "No one thinks that."

Another lie. "Ask around the school, then, Dino."

"I'm not going to ask for opinions from other people. Mine is all that's important, Kyouya."

Even when we were in public, Dino was still embarrassing. "I don't see how you can say something like that without shame."

Without realising it we were walking away, although Dino was a few steps in head of me as I trailed behind. I was still holding the album by my hand, unsure whether to throw it onto the floor and walk ahead. Why had he thought that it would have cheered me up? It was a first for me, though, as the one and only album I owned now actually showed evidence that he wasn't making everything up.

"You're an idiot, Dino," I murmured to myself, searching through my pocket for the key to get into the house.

It seemed he had heard me. "I know," he said loudly while laughing, producing his own key and opening the door before I had gotten the chance to. "Isn't it great?"

"Not particularly," I lied before stopping in my footsteps. "I forgot Nagi."

**AN:** I'm not sure what everyone's expecting for this story, but I wanted to have a large time skip compared to the earlier chapters. Nothing is going to happen between the two weeks they've been living together; but it's enough time for Kyouya to consider Count Blonde a friend of sorts. They both don't know who the other is at all and Dino's still just being the caring brother. Kyouya, of course, is being stubborn and getting the wrong idea about too many things. The relationship he shares with Mukuro isn't going any deeper, and Mukuro's parents are finally mentioned. They aren't a too important part at all.

I kind of love this story more than the rest of them, so I'm going to write a small spoiler for the next chapter! I'm a bad person, but the attention this is receiving is slowly going down.

_"You're looking better than before. Less of a wretched whore, if I must say so myself."  
"Here's a pillow. Suffocate yourself and stop breathing my air. Please."  
_


	8. Sincerity

**TheFeyRa: **It's the only one that you read? I'm honoured! There is a reason Mukuro's pushing Kyouya to Nagi but it's not romantic. lolol. You know when you get someone new, everyone always talks? As soon as that person, normally, spends too much time with one person rumours start circulating. Basically they're all _gay_. And silly rumours that girls like to make to give him a mysterious past. **asdfghjkl: **That's my reason for this being my favourite, too. (: I don't know whetehr it was about Dino or not! It was a "normal" wet dream, haha. No, no, it's not obvious. ;_; **Pudding Earl: **Spoiler, yes! **monoherelazytologin: ** /slaps you. have some masturbating in this chapter. **Queen Lexi: **Thank you! **ZirciX: **Boyfriend? Wouldn't you prefer a loving brother like that? :( Haha, my brother did something like that for me when I was younger, because I was ill and couldn't go on a trip somewhere. D8 That sounds pretty cool! We have stuff like that at my college, too. Thank you! **Setsuna Alaude: **OH wow, thank you! That was a really enthusiastic short review! I loved it. :) My not-so-speedy updates, you mean. **kuro-aku: **He's not the only blond in the school! And he has considered him, as you'll see in this chapter. :p **Eyes17k: **He's too lovely. **simply anonymous**: She was too busy to notice them. xD **ShanaynayRandomName: **Your name cracked me up, haha! Well done, brownie points for you! Thank you so much for all the compliments, I tried to be quick writing this. **Sugar Dawn: **Thank you! Brother complexes are the best. **Sugar Dawn: **Their cousins are lovely. ;3; Misunderstood! Thank you. **axelluver300: **Thank you! **dead or alive0013: **Stalking is always good, I can forgive you. No, no, Count Blonde is definitely Dino! I'm not that smart! Nope, Dino has no idea that "Nami" is Kyouya. None at all. :p **dead or alive0013: **Haha, sorry, I had to make you suffer! I'm not telling yooou. I'm glad you caught them small bits which meant Kyouya's fond of him! Impressive. **Manlecki: **Thank you!

_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter eight—Sincerity

Shaking my head for the umpteenth time at the ridiculous conversation I was having with Count Blonde, I wasn't paying attention when I almost tripped over my own feet and also walked into a few walls on the way to my next class. Stashing my phone into my pocket, I frowned as I caught sight of a blond mop of hair on the other side of the corridor. Whenever I saw any blond hair since the challenge had been proposed, I'd perked up and discreetly strained my neck to see who it was. So far it had either been males with non-natural platinum strands, Dino, or even girls with broad shoulders that had been trying to become more feminine with dyed hair. I was frustrated that I was always looking out, yet I was going to cheat my asking around. I wanted to find him myself. As I had expected, it was Dino on the other side on the corridor, sipping some sort of drink while nodding to someone beside him. A friend, apparently, and they were enthusiastically talking with hand gestures everywhere.

As soon as he had caught sight of me, he looked openly surprised before practically sprinting towards me. I grimaced before attempting to sidestep the oncoming embrace that had happened far too many that week already. Since he had given me the photo album on Monday, Dino had been obsessed with trying to prove that the period of time that he had been ignoring me had a purpose.

"Kyouya," he said happily, and loudly, before wrapping his arms around my waist too tightly. He squeezed, squashing my head against his chest before I tried to shove him away. To my displeasure he has finally realising that I never wanted to hug him; so each hug I received was becoming tighter than the last. I could only move him a few centimetres away from me that time. "Oh, come on," he complained, "it's just a hug."

"We're in the middle of the hallway," I hissed angrily, but quiet enough that everyone else couldn't hear it. It was obvious that we were getting odd looks, especially from the friend that Dino had been with beforehand. The other male, who I noticed had grey, or a very dirty blond, coloured hair and a perplexed look across his face. "Unless you stay away from me, I'm going to ignore you instead."

"Eh?" His hold only got tighter. "B-but..."

I was able to push him away at that point, pivoting on my heel and walking into my classroom as quickly as possible. I could feel that my cheeks were considerably hotter from the embarrassment of the situation, and when I had heard Dino call my name from when I had walked away, I wanted to melt into a puddle on the spot. Any violence in the hallways wouldn't have been good for me, any of the students watching would have been able to answer any questions about what had happened and cause me to get into further trouble. As soon as I was seated on my desk with my head resting on my arms, I had decided I needed to get some things straight with my brother.

He had been smothering me for four whole days and I couldn't stand it any more. Our parents had certainly noticed the change in our behaviour and I was pretty sure that almost the whole school had, too. He had been perking up the moment he saw me anywhere, making up random subjects to talk about and also annoying me whilst I was trying to sleep. I was lucky that he hadn't tried to help me wash while I had a bath, though. That would have been pushing our relationship far too far. I wanted to tear my hair out from all the attention I was receiving. It had never been like that before; our parents didn't smother me with attention, ever, but it might have been because if how he was raised. That made me think of what type of person his—I didn't consider her mine—grandmother was. He seemed to have been fond of her, if I remembered correctly.

_Namibird: I think I need your help._

Count Blonde: Well this is a nice change. What do you need help with? If it's finding out who I am, I could tell you what subject I'm in right now.

As much as I hated to ask others for help, the person I happened to trust the most was on the Internet. And thought I was a girl, I added inside of my head. I didn't like to think that I was bad enough with relationships that I was only capable of having one online with a complete stranger. A stranger that I could have bumped into at some random point in time without realising it, and with the way things were going I was never going to know who he was. Frustrating, it was, knowing that I considered someone a friend and allowing myself to trust them. How quick would it be for him to betray me? I had never considered Mukuro a friend, nor Nagi, so I wasn't sure what it was like. The second closest person to me, mostly by force, happened to be Dino.

_Namibird: Forget it._

Embarrassment came back with a vengeance. I slapped my cheeks quietly to get myself thinking straight, not looking beside me to see Mukuro's reaction to the sudden colour in my face.

Count Blonde had been extra happy during the last few days, too, but far more tolerable than Dino. He was still messaging me, but not to the extent that he had done before. The conversations between us were rather random, for once, and it felt odd to type so oddly with someone. It had always been strictly serious with others, but I found myself laughing from his messages and actions from within the game. The other night we had been trying to see which of us could get the other killed while they were battling an enemy by saying comments.

Naturally, I'd won.

_Count Blonde: You're impossible. Are you still going to stay up with me tonight? It's Friday, you won't have to worry about your appearance tomorrow. No one important will see. _

_Namibird: Yes._

It was a win win situation by staying up at night to play games. Dino wouldn't bother me if I was trying to sleep through the day on Saturday, and it would mean that it would be a stress reliever, too.

When class was over, I walked home quickly and nodded my head when I passed Nagi on one of the streets; she was still in her uniform, eye patch and all, and had said that she'd forgiven me already for leaving her on Monday instead of waiting and walking her home. As much as I had wanted to explain to her about Dino, I didn't know whether she knew of him yet. As I turned the corner onto my street, I noticed there was an unfamiliar car outside of my house. I didn't even recognise the number plate well, so I was cautious when I walked into the hallway. There were another pair of shoes and judging by the scratched pair beside them, Dino was home already.

"You're a bit too close..."

I could clearly hear Dino's uncomfortable voice almost echoing through the hallway. My interest was instantly piqued from hearing him sounding unsure, it was a rare thing to hear that tone. Walking through the walkway as quietly as possible after taking my shoes off, and placing my bag on the bottom step, I leaned against the doorway into the living room.

"Oh, it's just a friendly thing," a woman proclaimed. "Now be quiet and look like you're bonding with me. I think your mother's home." I didn't recognise the voice, but if she knew our mother, she was bound to be odd. Dino didn't reply to her after that and I took it as my cue to reveal myself. As quiet as they had been, they had heard the door open from the beginning. I stood in the middle of the doorway, staring at the scene before me. "Who's that?" the woman asked, looking at me.

She was definitely a woman, it was obvious by the outfit she was wearing and also her mature face. The first feature I noticed about her was the bright orange shade of her hair which was short, hanging just below her sharp chin and bangs swept to the side with a black hair clip that stood out more than it should of. Her irides matched her hair and from the distance between us, I could still see that there were some sort of flicks made by make-up on her eyelids. A thin, but tanned, arm was wrapped awkwardly around Dino and it revealed just how unknown they were to each other. A thin, too short, black dress that just covered her chest and half of her thighs covered not enough to keep her warm.

"Who are _you_?" I asked back in the same tone, if not ruder.

"Kyouya!" Dino said happily, and I was surprised that he didn't push himself away from the strange woman to get up and hug me. When I realised that I was expecting him to do such a thing, and eyeing him oddly when he didn't, I bit down onto my tongue to get the odd thoughts out of my mind.

"Kid, who's the newcomer? I was expecting Oregano," she said rudely, unwrapping her arm and leaning her head back against the sofa. If she hadn't had her legs up onto the cushions, I would have been able to clearly see up her short dress. "What a let down. I even had to hug you."

"I told you my name's Dino," Dino corrected her with an exasperated the, clearly having said it various times. "That's my younger brother."

"Gosh, she popped out a lot of you, didn't she?" The woman burst out laughing, though it seemed more sarcastic than anything. "How many of you are there, then?"

"Just Kyouya and I." He blinked, discreetly shuffling away from her while still sitting down. I was standing in the hallway, still, just watching them interact as though I was interrupting them.

I decided I didn't want to be ignored any longer. "You didn't answer my question," I snapped at her. Her interest apparently became perked as she lifted her head up, looking at me oddly. "I asked who you were. Why don't you say why you're here, too?"

"It's almost scary how much you remind me of your father." She sat up suddenly, hair all over the place from her fast movement, and pretended to shiver dramatically with an exaggerated expression. "Bloody Hell, that makes me shudder." When she stood up, I was quite surprised that she was shorter than I had imagined. Though, that didn't mean that I was taller than her at all. I was only a few centimetres smaller, and I was sure that Dino towered over her.

She looked at me with curious eyes, and I could tell that my expression was negative and possibly insulting to her.

The woman looked at me from head to toe, raising her eyebrows and then whistling quietly before clapping. "You're almost an exact clone, you just need to dye your hair!" she said, grinning. "You even inherited his shortness."

"Dad was just like Kyouya?" Dino asked, obviously surprised from the thought of it. I was surprised, too, but I knew that I looked somewhat similar to him. My surprise, of course, was because I hadn't seen any photographs of either of my parents from when they were younger.

"I'm not short," I denied to cover up my embarrassment. It didn't help my case when Dino stood up and walked over to us, especially since the woman and I just came unto his shoulder, roughly. "Now tell me who you are, herbivore."

She burst out laughing and as I felt my eye twitch in annoyance, I heard that Dino had a little laugh, too.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." She laughed, the noise sounded too awful to have been innocent. "Hello," she said, sticking her hand out to shake mine before thinking it through properly and letting it fall down to her side. I was able to notice that she had long red nails from those few seconds. "M.M., I'm your aunt."

"Aunt," I repeated dumbly. "Are you the one with a child away at a boarding school?"

"Oh no." She grinned, her teeth looking too white, and possibly sharp, to have been natural. "My twins are both at a boarding school."

That meant there was only one other option left, and I stared at her in disbelief. "You're the bitch, then," I said rudely. I would have laughed at Dino's expression if I wasn't watching hers so closely. "The one Mother hates."

"You're well informed." She threw her head back and laughed before her phone started to loudly vibrate from the bag, that I had only just noticed, in the corner of the room. "Oh, dear." M.M. quickly crossed the room to tap away on the screen, shaking her head in disbelief as I raised an eyebrow at Dino. He shrugged in return, not knowing what to say. "Well, this has been awkward between us."

Dino answered before I could, purposely to silence any rude comment I had wanted to say. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

"I'll come back another day," M.M. proclaimed, reaching within her bag to reveal a letter. "Pass this to Oregano for me, kid. I'll reward you for it later."

As she practically sprinted past us and slipped into her black high heels, Dino replied, "My name's _Dino_!"

"Whatever." She flipped her hair, somehow despite the length, and grinned over her shoulder. "Later." M.M. didn't even have the courtesy to quietly close the door, she slammed it on purpose.

"I thought you were the weirdest one in this family," I said to Dino before retrieving my bag and walking up the stairs.

I could tell why I wasn't told directly about her. She seemed to be the complete opposite of my parents, and since I had overheard them talking before, I knew that she was my father's younger sister. Their personalities were completely different, but then again, so were mine and Dino's. There were footsteps behind me, meaning that Dino was following me up into the room, too. We were completely different, yet that was because we weren't raised together. Were there even any similarities between us? I doubted there were. We didn't look alike, act alike, nor did we have any of the same hobbies.

"Dino," I asked and immediately receiving a hum in return. "Are you like me at all?"

I didn't know whether to look over my shoulder too see his reaction. Instead I kept walking into our bedroom, waiting for the answer I was expecting from him. "I don't know," he answered, honestly, "I've never thought about it."

He couldn't answer me at all. I was happily surprised that he didn't try to hug me again, and just sat down onto his mattress and looked at the ceiling for awhile. He had been waiting for me to talk about something, and instead of doing such a thing I decided to turn in my laptop instead. When we finally did talk, it wasn't any significant. Dino was just complaining about how I was rejecting him at school, and I pointed out that no one knew that we were related, so it was fuelling unwanted rumours. Mukuro had probably already heard about the incidents and I wanted nothing more than for him to keep his mouth shut. He was probably going to tell Nagi as well; I wanted her to continue not knowing weird things, especially since I had to see her not out of choice.

When I went to shower that night, my embarrassment caught up to me as. felt a throbbing between my legs. I pressed my forehead against the cold tiles to attempt to calm myself down, not wanting to shower with cold water and risk catching a cold. It was futile, though, and I eventually found myself slowly moving my hand downwards. I flinched from the temperature of my hand against my member, slowly becoming accustomed to it and gently continuing. My eyes were closed as a shiver ran up my spine and I moaned softly. As I moved my hand with clear intentions, I could feel my face flush from the feeling. It had been a few weeks since the last time I'd _let it out_, and my body was clearly showing that. Though, the wet dream the other day didn't help at all. Slowly running a finger across the tip of my member, I groaned under my breath before pumping firmly. I could feel my pulse increase, my breaths slowly becoming ragged, as I unconsciously jerked forward.

The uncomfortable feeling within my stomach appeared and I moaned loudly, slamming my lips shut after and biting down not the inside of my cheek. I wasn't home alone, after all. I moaned again, my forehead pressed against the tiles in front of me again in an attempt to keep my body temperature down.

When there was a knock on the bathroom door, I jumped forward and whacked my head against the wall and felt my heart skip a beat. "Kyouya?" Dino called loudly, knocking against the door again. I stopped moving, and maybe even breathing, as I waited to see whether he'd walk away or not. "I'm going out for a bit. I'm meeting up with some friends."

I waited almost a minute before banging my head against the wall, cursing under my breath as I felt that my face was considerably hotter than the rest of my body. I wasn't in the mood to continue any more, so I washed myself quickly, dried off and then hid myself inside of my room. I kept thinking about whether or not Dino had heard me; I didn't know, but if he was that close, and I was sure it echoed within the bathroom, there was a chance. It was an embarrassing thought and I pressed my head against my pillow feeling the urge to groan again. It wasn't my day, apparently.

Dino never mentioned it when he returned, and I was even more frustrated than before. As much as I wanted to avoid him completely, I knew that I had to act as though nothing had happened, to make him think he had heard wrong. When dinner came around he was clutching the letter, almost crushing it, under the table.

"Kyouya's going to be offended if you don't eat your dinner, Dino," Mother scolded him. Since she was late home, and Father happened to be coming back after we were supposed to be asleep, I'd busied myself with cooking rather than spending time with him.

"Sorry," he apologised and ate a mouthful. "Mom, someone asked me to give you this letter."

She had probably she that it was from the school. Just to be sadistic she said, "Read it aloud to me." Whenever I had a letter concerning my behaviour, I had to read it and attempt to not be rude.

Dino bit down on his lip, opening the piece of paper slowly. "Oregano," he read, though he had surely read more.

Trying not to smirk, I ate my food.

"Brother sent me a picture of the two of you, so I feel like I have to voice my opinion about you. Now don't be offended, I'm sure your hips aren't what they used to be after bearing children," he read slowly. From meeting M.M. before I could clearly imagine her saying such things to my mother's face without a hint of her expression changing. From what I could tell she was some sort of a fearsome woman, one that believed in all the accessories of life, rather than happiness. "If I must say so myself, you're looking much better than before. Less of a wretched whore."

I glanced over to see Mother's reaction, yet there wasn't any. Her expression was exactly the same since when she'd asked Dino to read the letter aloud; the same tiny smile across her lips as her clasped hands were resting on the able in front of her.

Dino cleared his throat, so I looked bad at him. He was glancing out of the corner of his eye at me, and I didn't know whether it was for some sort of comfort or reassurance, or whether he was just crazy. "I trust that you've received this letter if you weren't at home for me visit. Shame, I would have loved to have seen your wardrobe nowadays," Dino's voice was becoming quieter before he took a long pause, as if sorting out what not to say, what was deemed inappropriate. "With lots of disgust, your little sister in law."

Oh, father's sister was definitely a keeper. She hadn't had a wedding ring on earlier, so I assumed that the father of her children had agreed with me. Mother was still smiling softly, though I could see her eye twitching ever so slightly. It was enough to indicate that she was going to lose her temper soon enough, and when she did I didn't want to be there for it. I kicked Dino as discreetly as I could under the table, darting my eyes to the door to indicate that we needed to leave while we still could.

"Well, wasn't that nice?" she said, the smile strained.

Without saying a word, I pushed myself up from the table and left. Dino didn't take my silent advice, though, staying where he was to carry on talking to her without any idea what he was getting himself into. When he finally came up to our room, it was long after I had started reading another book, blinking in surprise when there was a thud against the door right before it opened.

Before he chose to speak, I cut in with, "Scary, wasn't it?"

"Mom must really hate her." Dino sighed, running his fingers through his hair and moving to sit down on his mattress again. He reached for his laptop almost immediately, and it was silent after that. I didn't know what else I could say to him; there were things I knew about our mother, but there were things that only Dino did, too. Was it like that with our father as well? I couldn't see the two of them talking more than a few sentences, at least on father's end. Dino would have been making all of the conversation, and father just looking at him oddly, probably discreetly.

I'd narrowly avoided getting caught skipping a lesson on Monday. Tuesday was a different matter, though. I was reprimanded by the teacher that had caught me immediately and to make my luck worse, it had been beside Dino's classroom. I had been walking through the hallway to buy a drink while typing as quickly as I could on my phone, so it was my fault that I had been caught, really. I blamed it completely on Count Blonde instead, though I didn't tell him a thing about it. If he was on that section he might have suspected something from me explaining why my reply was late, even if I wasn't wearing a skirt.

_Count Blonde: Why are you still replying so late to me? You should be at home already!_

_Namibird: Shut up. I'm busy._

He was the reason I was sat in detention the next day with a teacher that was too busy reading a magazine at the front to care about what I was doing. All they cared about was that I was in the room for a certain amount of time, paying extra attention to me alone as there was no one else inside of the room.

_Count Blonde: Too busy to care that I want to tell you something?_

_Namibird: I suppose I have time to hear what you have to say this time. You better not waste this._

_Count Blonde: I've been wanting to thank you some more for helping me with my brother. So why don't we tell each other one feature we have? I want to find you sooner. I want to see you, Nami._

To my own chagrin it had taken me far too long to realise that had been gaping at the screen on my phone. I could tell, easily, that I had been surprised by his comments but the reaction I had seemed more exaggerated than it should have been. When I noticed that my face was considerably hotter, I was even more worried about myself than before. Was I an idiot? It seemed like I had the symptoms of one at that moment, even more so than when I acknowledged that I had considered him a friend. "This isn't right," I murmured, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I'm not like that. I'm not weak." But I was, my reactions proved that. When felt the teacher staring at me, I glowered in their direction to hide my embarrassment. It was only a few more minutes that I had left within the classroom, hopefully enough to compose myself.

_Namibird: My hair colour is black. _

I was cooperating with him, indicating that the feeling was mutual even though I wasn't going to type it clearly. The lies had to be shattered at some point, and to save my sanity and myself from falling any deeper, the sooner it was the better, it seemed.

_Count Blonde: My eyebrows match my hair. They're real, though, not dyed. So you can expect other places to match as well._

As soon as I'd flushed in mortification from his comment, I stashed my phone away into my pockets and left the classroom for my home quickly. When I'd arrived at my house, though, there was a small problem. Small might have been the wrong word for it; mother was angrier than she was the other day, almost vibrating, while father had simply placed his hand into her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. They didn't look at me as I walked in, and I wasn't in the mood to interrupt them. Placing my bag in my room, Dino waved happily as I stared at him. His eyebrows matched his hair, and so did his eyelashes that looked too long to be masculine.

"Kyouya?" he said, blinking.

My attention snapped back to where it was supposed to be. I looked off to the side, the wheels inside of my head turning. There was no way Count Blonde was Dino. They were both idiots, of course, but they were on two completely different levels. Count Blonde was tolerable and nice to talk with to pass time, while Dino was simply an annoyance. I knew my basic morals; incest wasn't right, and I knew that I certainly wouldn't feel anything for my brother. "It's not him." Colour rose to my cheeks as I realised I'd voiced my thoughts aloud by accident. Dino still had the same expression, as though he hadn't heard what I had said. Mentally I gave myself a pat on the back for talking quietly. "What's wrong with Mother?"

Dino grinned at me. "Dad's older sister is visiting us tomorrow with one of her daughters. Apparently she goes to our school, so we might know her." There was no one else I'd seen in our school that looked anything like us. No one had our last names, too, even though mine and Dino's were different. "I wonder what she'll be like. Maybe we'll start talking to each other at school." It was wishful thinking and we both knew it wasn't going to happen.

"You're lucky I even talk to you," I proclaimed, leaning back onto my bed and staring at the ceiling. I had mixed feelings about meeting more if our family; all of their personalities seemed to be on completely different levels. Dino was unlike anyone else, I was sure. "She's going to be a nuisance." I took that chance to reply since I'd calmed down my thoughts.

_Namibird: I didn't need to know those other details. Pervert._

Dino tapped away on his laptop, yet still had the concentration to reply. "You're just denying the fact you're fond of me, I know," he said almost bashfully. "You didn't mind me hugging you yesterday at school." That had been after I'd found out about my detention. I didn't want to worsen it by causing more trouble, so I'd allowed him to hold me for a few seconds, and that was apparently all it took to make him happy. "I swore you were even returning it, too." I was gripping my hands into fists, actually, but his shirt had gotten tangled in with his palms.

_Count Blonde: Hey, hey, I was just saying. I'm not harassing you, dear Nami, I'm not like that._

"You must be imagining it." I sighed. Was it going to always going to be like this between us? I asked myself, biting down on my bottom lip. Dino has been pushing himself into my life since he had arrived, and I was sure that I had a limit without hurting him, even if it was going to be intentional. "You're just a herbivore."

_Namibird: How do I know you're telling the truth?_

"Herbivore, eh?" He chuckled, clearly not offended at all. I ignored the movement in the corner of my eye, staring at my screen as I waited for an answer instead. When I finally paid attention to him, though, it was too late. Dino was standing just beside my bed when I'd looked up, and by the time I'd dropped my phone and frowned, he'd settled himself down beside me on the bed. His chest was pressed against my shoulder as I was on my back, while he was on his side so he could look at me. "Is that what you call anyone you like?"

Count Blonde wasn't the only one called it, so clearly Dino's question was unnecessary. "You're close," I commented, scooting to my left so my other shoulder was pressed against the wall. Thankfully Dino didn't move, and I was resisting the urge to push him into the floor. "Too close."

"Kyouya," he complained with a sigh. "This isn't close at all, I'm just beside you." He still didn't make me feel comfortable. I was fine sleeping in the same room, and slowly becoming accustomed to being randomly embraced for a few seconds, with Dino relaxing right beside me I could hear him breathing clearly. He looked up to the ceiling as I inspected his face again, my eyes unconsciously going to his eyebrows. "I just want to talk to you up close for once. I want to spend time with you."

I'd read, rather than heard, a line similar to his only a few hours ago and they'd had completely different reactions. "Dino," I said, not thinking through my actions properly. I found myself brushing the hair out of his face without much of a thought. "Why the hell would you dye your eyebrows?" I just wanted to make sure. They could have been, for all I knew, and some of the dye could have gotten on his eyelashes. It was possible.

He caught my hand within his. "Are you okay?"

My thoughts were clear and intelligent that time. I kicked Dino with enough force that he fell onto the floor with a thud, yelling in surprise, and giving me enough time to walk to the bathroom and wash my face. The cold water felt good on my skin. When I returned, I had to bite down in my lip when I finally checked to see Count Blonde's response. It really was better for the lie to shatter quicker.

_Count Blonde: I'm not interested in girls, Nami. I'm homosexual._

The next day my luck was worse than it had been before. As soon as I'd stepped outside, I'd almost tripped over, only being saved at the last minute by Dino catching me. I could feel him breathing on my neck when he had done so, yet I didn't say thank you as I walked away. I didn't need to, he could have probably been able to tell from my expression that I resented help that I didn't need. I fell asleep in a test, meaning that Mukuro was given free reign over what my score was since he was able to swipe my sheet and write a crude message in it, and when I'd woken up, he was right in my face. All he had done was explain Nagi's situation, but it was enough for my mood to worsen.

The one good thing was that I was able to avoid Dino until I'd returned home. He'd finally caught up while I was taking my shoes off. Practically reenacting our first meeting, I fell to the floor—and I was sure I bruised my tail bone—as his arms wrapped around me.

"Dino!" I hissed, shoving him an arms distance away from me. "Get off!"

"I don't want to," he whined and I felt my eye twitch. He didn't behaviour like that when our parents were home, not at all. He was more mature, in a sense, and definitely wasn't as touchy. "I didn't see you all day."

"You lasted sixteen years, you can last a few hours without me." I was being too calm about the bruises. "Get up before I kick you again." I almost wanted to laugh when he'd immediately leapt up, reaching down and offering a hand to help me up. I didn't take it, of course. When I'd brushed the dirt off of my clothing, I scowled and swiftly kicked him in the shin. Dino gasped in surprise and reached down to clutch his newly forming bruise.

My interested was diverted elsewhere when I heard that there was a knock at the door.

As soon as I'd opened it, I wanted to slam the door shut just as quickly. However, I found myself staring at the girl in front of me with narrowed eyes. "How do you know where I live?" I asked, fearing that I had a stalker. It was too bad that my jacket had fallen onto the floor when Dino had hugged me, meaning I didn't have any sort of weapon on me.

Haru was visibly surprised. She wasn't in her school uniform that time, though, instead wearing normal clothing. She wore a white blouse with a black ribbon tied by the collar, paired with black shirts along with thigh-high socks that blended in with her black, freshly shined, shoes. For the first time she had her hair down; the brown strands reached her shoulders. "I think I have the wrong house," she announced.

I slammed the door on her, turning around to look awkwardly at Dino. He looked just as miffed as I was sure I did, and I was surprised to see him walk into the living room to look out of the window. As I got myself a drink to distract myself, Mother walked through the front door and announced that Father was busy meeting his sister and her daughter, and that they would be present for dinner that night. I had to cook with Dino. At least, I was told to and he lasted a few minutes before cutting his finger and having to leave the kitchen and not interfere. Just as I'd finished and let Mother take over, there was another knock at the door. I let Dino take it that time, and when I heard him gasp in surprise, for the umpteenth time, I looked around the corner to see. Haru was back again, but that time she wasn't alone. Father and a blue-haired woman, who was almost taller than him, were behind the brunette, and were silently looking at each other.

Dino did the right thing taking Haru's wrist and pulling her forward. "Excuse us a minute," he said, pulling her upstairs as I followed silently after them. Haru wasn't making any kind of noise since she has returned; normally she was loud, and I could tell where she was exactly from just hearing her within the hallway. She stood awkwardly in the middle of our room while Dino sat down on my bed and I leaned against the door, preventing her from going downstairs too soon.

"You're my cousin?" I said, unsure on how else I could have approached the subject. She nodded, hair moving as she did so, and visibly biting down on her bottom lip. "How long have you known?" The thought of her knowing all along, and still proclaiming that she was in love with me made me feel sick. I had thought about incest not too many days ago, and to have it brought up, again by me, was making it a tough one to handle.

"Haru only found out when she met your father, only minutes ago," she explained in her odd way of referring to herself in third person. "Are you two, oh, Haru doesn't know how to say it—"

I'd forgotten that Mukuro had practically brain washed her into thinking Dino was my boyfriend. I looked at him firmly, silently conveying that it was is turn to take over. "Hi," he greeted her happily, "I'm Dino." There was also the fact that before I had heard her saying she loved me, she was expressing her fondness for Dino's looks. "I think there's been a misunderstanding between us all."

"There has?" Haru asked, tilting her head to the side. I immediately noticed she has the habit of clutching onto her skirt, or shorts for that moment, when she was nervous.

"Yeah," he confirmed, standing up as I crossed my arms. "I'm Kyouya's older brother. Not lover."

She gaped. "We may not be similar," I said, resisting the urge to smirk, "but it's true." Had she has thought we were that close lovers that we were living together? The thought of being romantically involved with Dino still sent a shiver up my spine. It wasn't a right thought.

"Haru's sorry for misunderstanding." All the colour rushed to her face within seconds. I blinked, slightly astonished, and wondered whether I had that ability, too. It seemed like a super power.

"Just tell our parents about all of the rumours, okay?" He winked at her and I felt my hand curl into a fist. So he did know about the rumours, and yet he insisted on publicly showing his _affection _and fuelling them even more. It was probably some sick form of amusement for him. When we were alone, I was definitely going to get him back for it. I didn't think Haru could handle any violence, be it in front of her or directed at her, at that moment.

"Don't flirt with family," I scolded him with a firm stare. "It's sick." The comment was directed at Haru as well, and from her uncomfortable posture, I knew she could tell that it was.

Dinner turned out to be unexpectedly amusing. Haru was louder and back to normal by that time, and I found that father didn't mind his older sister, Lal. She had introduced herself to both Dino and I seriously, shaking our hands after a few tense seconds. She wasn't rude like M.M. was, but then again she wasn't as stylish as she was, too. Lal was wearing a dark pair of jeans and a t-shirt, complimenting the unusual navy colour her hairs were. It wasn't dyed, though, her eyebrows clearly said that. Dino has bonded with Haru naturally after the awkwardness had disappeared, and she was as cheery as ever and being silly with him. It proved that idiots ran in our family.

I sat in silence and ate my food. The attention wasn't on me.

Haru's younger sister sounded more like me, just because she was the trouble maker. Bluebell, who had inherited blue hair as well, although it was a couple of shades lighter than her mother's, had caused enough trouble at thirteen that she had been sent away to the boarding school where M.M.'s children were as well. They left soon after that with Lal nodding in my direction and Haru not sure of what to say. She flushed and walked away, but not before Dino caught her by the wrist to whisper something in her ear. They seemed like best friends within hours.

"Kyouya," Dino whined within our room, his tone been more unenthusiastic as the last five times he had said the same sentence, "I'm bored!"

My eye twitched. There was a limit to how much I could take from him. "Here's a pillow, " I announced, throwing it in his face. It was a direct hit, and I would have given myself, mentally, one hundred points if I didn't want to annoy him more. "Suffocate yourself," I commanded, "and stop breathing my air."

He whined into the material, "Kyouya!"

I forgot my manners. "Please."

Dino pouted, visibly, before deciding not to answer me. I had assumed that he'd fallen asleep with the pillow still on his face, but he let it fall down beside him. He was sulking for the rest of the night, yet didn't mind trying to get me back in the morning. I'd narrowly avoided the pillow hitting me in the face in the morning, and as soon as I'd stared daggers at him he'd walked away and had gotten dressed in the bathroom. Since the first time he'd taken off his shirt in our room and saw my expression was uncomfortable, Dino had made sure I wasn't in the room whenever he had to change clothing. We never spoke about it; it was an unspoken agreement between us, much like if he did one thing wrong in the kitchen he had to go away for the rest of the night. I couldn't be bothered to put up with him messing everything up for me, after all.

As I stepped outside to walk to school, Dino followed after me and bumped his shoulder into me. I shoved him back, frowning, causing him to laugh aloud and think that we were bonding. He was misunderstanding the situation between us, but if I was a bystander watching us, I was sure that I would have misunderstood, too. Only the two of us and Haru knew that we were related. If we looked alike, it might have been less awkward when other students passed us.

"You're really quiet this morning," he commented with a curious tone. "Is everything okay, Kyouya?"

All I said was, "You're too close to me." It was true, in a sense, but I knew that I was just over thinking things.

"Are you sure?" Dino asked, tucking his hands into his pockets. He raised an eyebrow as I looked at his expression, inspecting it too see whether I could really say what I wanted to.

"Dino," I started slowly, still staring at him with furrowed eyebrows. There was a chance I was going to make a fool of myself, or he would go along with what I was going to compromise without questioning it at all. He hadn't been helping at all by knowing about the rumours and making them worse. As much as I didn't care about things being said about me, it was becoming too awkward, especially when there were strangers with smirks across their lips when I made eye contact with them. That wasn't right; I was supposed to be the one smirking. "If you ignore me at school, I'll spend more time with you at home." And then I thought better and added, "Willingly."

He looked visibly surprised before hurt. "Why do I have to ignore you?" he asked awkwardly, slowing down walking. I paused in the middle of the street to hear what he had to say, it must have been the tone that caught my attention. He averted his eyes, staring ahead instead of at me. "I don't want to do that. You _know_ that I don't want to." Dino sounded more offended than hurt at that moment. "And yet you still want to ask me to do that? No."

"Why?" was all I could say before he cut in, rudely.

"I had to pretend you didn't exist for years just so I wouldn't get upset." The comment was news to me; I knew that Dino had received pictures, so why had he been pretending I wasn't real? "Now that I'm actually here with you, I don't want to do that again. I can't just walk past you as if you're nothing at school, or anywhere else."

I pretended that I imagined that his voice cracked. I knew that I couldn't look at him in the face, so I turned to walk away, though I stayed glued to the spot. "Then don't hug me. Just say hello, or something, and then go on your way," I explained what I wanted, the subject wouldn't become touchy again, "don't stick around and cause for more rumours."

I didn't flinch when he put his hand on my shoulder softly, to keep me in place, from what I could tell. "Is that what this is about?" he asked, his tone lighter than before. I still knew I wouldn't have been able to look him in the face. Instead, I nodded. "I know you don't like the attention, but I'm just being myself." He was still being too loud and obvious for my tastes. "I'm sorry, I'll stop."

Damn right you will, I thought bitterly. Dino didn't remove his hand from my shoulder, instead leaning forward, as well as leaning, so I could feel his breath moving a few strands of my hair. Something soft pressed against my temple before it disappeared, and Dino walked ahead of me.

As he said, "I'll see you at home, Kyouya," I realised that he'd kissed my forehead.

When I'd made it to the classroom I was sure that I was still flustered. True to his word, though, Dino didn't embrace me that day, nor did he do more than smile when we saw each other. It was awkward passing Haru in the hallway, though—she still had the same reaction as she had when she was at my home, to flush and avoid talking at all costs. She had probably realised that she needed to attempt to act normal, but it wasn't working at all. She was too obvious. Only one person I knew was more obvious than she was.

"You seem to be attached to your phone nowadays, Kyouya," Mukuro commented beside me. He had shuffled his desk towards mine that particular day, since through the last lesson the teacher was off ill. A pathetic substitute had come along, and could hardly keep control over the class. "Are you becoming addicted?"

"I'm not addicted," I denied, though I was still typing.

_Namibird: I'm not staying up tonight. I'm already tired._

"You're not fun to tease any more," he proclaimed, kicking my table leg. I didn't flinch from the movement, not bothering to lift my eyes up from the screen to see how aggravated his expression was. Mukuro was particularly amusing when he threw a _tantrum_of sorts, yet at that moment I wasn't interested. He was boring as of late, it seemed, especially when he continued to pester me for the strangest of things. "You've become less violence, too. Is that boyfriend of yours taming you?"

That was enough to stir a reaction. Placing the phone back inside of my pocket without waiting for a reply, I stared through narrowed eyes at Mukuro's suddenly amused expression. The corner of his lip twitched as I stared at him. "You're an idiot," I announced, smirking as if I knew something that he didn't. Which I did, really. "I can't believe you don't know already."

"I know a few things." He crossed his arms over his chest. "What could I not know?"

My eyes were probably expressing my amusement from the situation. "Well," I started, pausing for long pause that was more than annoying. "Did you know that one side of your hair is longer than the other? Also, Nagi likes me more than you."

"Lie," he said to the first one, though he had looked down from the corner of his eye to see whether he could tell if I was telling the trust or not. "And she likes you in a different way, Kyouya. We've spoken about this." I supposed that was because we were both there when we had come across her. It didn't help that I tended to blame it upon myself, though it wasn't my fault at all. Seeing a girl lying on the pavement while unconscious certainly wasn't a nice sight, especially when I was young and only just getting into my extremely violent phases. My temper was bad, of course, but I didn't think that I could have done it to a girl like someone else had. We were supposed to just go to the hospital with her, but it hadn't ended up that way in the end. "It would have helped if you had complimented her eye patch, you know."

"I saw no reason to lie to her." She looked sad enough that she was different, if I lied it wouldn't have made it any better. Nagi surely would have been able to tell. "Elena probably told her it complimented her skin colour or something equally strange."

"Close." He laughed. "It made her other eye stand out, apparently."

I shook my head in amusement. His mother was a strange woman, and I knew for sure that Mukuro didn't get his personality from her. Elena had accepted Nagi without much thinking; as soon as she had been called to be informed that we'd find a girl, since Mukuro's father had been at work, she had rushed down to see what was going on. Her blond hair was all over the place, some strands sticking to her face, too. To my surprise, Mukuro had forgotten what we were talking about as soon as Nagi had been mentioned.

It was a good time to pass on a message. "Mother wants you to say hi to Elena for her."

Of course, Dino took me seriously when I had said that I'd spend time with him at home. He had arrived after I'd already turned my laptop on, slamming the front door unintentionally and even ended up falling up the stairs on his way up. I shook my head at his behaviour, trying not to look up as the door to our bedroom opened and he appeared. He just smiled when I finally looked up.

"Later." From his expression, I assumed that I had to expand on my comment. "I'll spend time with you later," I clarified with a neutral tone. Did he just want to talk?

It was thirty minutes later that I was more annoyed than I had been that whole day. Count Blonde had linked me to a site to download something the night before, and since I'd only just gotten round to it, I didn't think twice and bother to scan to see whether it was safe. I groaned aloud from the virus pop-up, closing my internet pages in case the screen froze and anyone could have seen it.

Dino hummed to get my attention. "What's wrong?"

"Virus," I ground out before gnawing on the inside of my cheek.

"Oh, I'm good with them," he announced. From the corner of my eye I saw that he'd stood up to sit next to me, taking the laptop out of my hands without waiting for a reply from me. I blinked before mentally shrugging, moving around him to stand on the floor. "You can go on mine for the mean time."

I saw no reason to reject his offer. I was curious to see what it was like on his, too. Sitting down on his mattress, but not before looking up to see that he was actually attempting to mix my laptop, I discovered that it wasn't very comfortable.

"You're not going to find any porn on there," I said.

Dino laughed loudly, shaking his head. "Same right back at you, Kyouya."

Dino had just been browsing the internet, from what I could see. Once I'd closed the browsers, I wasn't expecting to see a familiar window on the task bar. Curious, I opened up the conversation before my eyes widened. I had to cover my mouth with my hand to stop from making a noise in surprise. As I read the chat on the screen, I could feel that my heart had skipped a beat.

Not only did I know that my brother was homosexual, he was also blond everywhere. Count Blonde had been under my nose the whole time, and I could feel my face heating up from realising it far too late.

Closing the chat tab on his laptop, I panicked when I realised that I might have been still logged on on my own. "Forget it," I snapped, snatching mine away and leaving the room. Forgetting about the virus completely, I closed it down before going to the bathroom and splashing water on my face. "This means I was thinking about incest without knowing it," I murmured, still flushed. I decided it was better for the lie to continue, for my sake.

**AN: **For this chapter it went from friend to liking him and then, last but not least, family. I was going to have Kyouya find out that Dino was CB in the next chapter, but I thought I'd throw it in here instead as a nice way to end a chapter. Dino still doesn't know who Nami is and his, uh, complex is getting slightly out of hand. Yes, I made M.M. and Lal Alaude's sisters. I have a nice family tree drawn out just for this story, though I don't know where I've stashed it on my computer. As with the rest of my updates lately, this was typed up on my phone so there's bound to be lots of mistakes. Sorry for that. I still need a beta, haha.


	9. Endearing

**ZirciX: **No, no, Dino's definitely not smart enough to confirm that Kyouya's Nami by sending him a virus. It was just an unlucky coincidence, or their different virus protectors. I really like M.M. so that's why I included her in there. She wasn't really bitching, just being the lovely younger sister. Every sister has the right to dislike their brother's girlfriend/spouse/whatever. Aww, really? I'm sure your sister is lovely! I'm basing Dino's brotherly antics somewhat on my brother. I'm proud to say I've never fought with my brother, too! Never in our life. :D **PandoraMagic: **Damn right he'll never tell. **The****FeyRa: **Bitchy aunt is always needed. I personally love M.M. so. xD;; You can imagine whatever you want, my dear friend, whatever you want. You'll beta for me, really? I'd love that! Just PM me and I'll get in touch when I can! **dead or alive0013: **In the beginning I was going to have Dino find out that it's Kyouya first, but then since it's not from his POV it would've been... boring. And everyone always makes it a one-sided love on Dino's part, it should be more Kyouya's! **ayameD18: **Oh, man, thank you! That means a lot! I love you for reviewing! :D **SkylarkLove: **I shall teach you my ways! Basically, I post a private entry on LJ and then post comments on that with the story. The character limit for each comment on my phone is 2,300 characters, so I have to do lots and lots of comments. D8 It's a nice way to spend class, travelling, and when my Internet is down. **The Red Undertaker: **Oho! I always like trying to use new things in my stories. :D No idea. I have no clue whatsoever. Thank you! **Eyes17k: **Yey! **axelluver300: **Thank you! **acetatedbubble: **/blushing insanely from your review. Thank you very much! I wasn't sure at all whether it was coming across that way, so thank you for saying that it does and stopping me from worrying any more. **Takoiumegane: **I'm sorry for the slow update! :D **Munchiek: **I'm not too sure where but in one of the chapters Nami says that a girl confessed their love for "her" and since it didn't sound like Nami was disgusted, Count Blonde assumed "she" was lesbian. **Munchiek: **Haha, thank you! **Eloda: **Whoa, thank you very much! :D **PuroCieloFiamme: **/shoves head into bucket to stop blushing. Thank you! That's a huge compliment. O_O;;

_家庭教師ヒットマン _REBORN! © _天野明 _

Chapter nine—Endearing

"You can't hide for long, you know." Nagi gave me a disapproving look, her hands falling to grip her hips. "And your parents are going to figure out you're here, too. They're only downstairs."

Her brother didn't know I was here as well. I'd managed to creep up to her room without so much as a second thought, and Nagi certainly wasn't complaining about my presence. She'd been surprised before standing aside and allowing me inside of her home, not bothering to call her brother or her parents to warn them of my presence. Was it because of my expression, maybe? I subtly raised my hand to my cheek, as if checking that I knew what kind of face I was making. Although I was sure that I was still in shock—though definitely not as much as yesterday—I could wrap my mind around what I had found out.

I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose, as I told myself not to think about it. I'd sought out someone to talk to so I could distract myself.

"I know." A distraction was what I needed. I'd somehow made it through a restless night of sleeping in the same room as him, tossing and turning and resisting the urge to walk to the bathroom. I'd felt physically sick on more than a few occasions. Not so long before I'd found out the truth I had been lecturing him and Haru, saying that flirting with family was sick, and yet I was doing the exact same thing. I'd gotten myself into the same mess, maybe worse since I still couldn't wrap my head around it.

Nagi's tone was uncertain as she asked, "Do you want to... read a book or something?"

"No, thanks," I answered. She shifted uncomfortably on one foot, shifting her weight as her eye darted around the room. "Are you used to the eye patch yet?"

Her hand instantly flew up to touch the material covering her eye. "No," she admitted, heat rising to her cheeks. "I keep walking into walls."

"In front of people?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Unfortunately," Nagi confessed, blushing from head to toe. "I had to sit in the infirmary for most of the day on Friday."

"You're going to end up walking into someone and injuring yourself," I had to resist the urge to laugh, "or even them." Nervously, Nagi shifted her weight again whilst averting her eye. Her reaction only made me realised that it had probably already helping, and I was only rubbing salt into her wound. Instead of apologising, like any decent person would have done, I cleared my throat and let my eyes look around her room instead. It had changed since the last time I'd been inside—rather than the pink shade of paint the walls had before, it was a light purple without any posters or any sort of decorations. There were a few shelves on one side, a bookcase on the other, and that was about it apart from her wardrobe. "What happened to your desk?"

"I gave it to Mukuro," she explained with a shrug. "His last one broke so I said he could have mine."

"You're too nice to him." I scowled. "This is why he's annoying as Hell."

"Don't you normally say he's always been like that?" Nagi corrected me with a smile, amusement clear within her iris.

"That's probably the reason I've tried to drown him over the years." She stifled a laugh, covering her mouth to mask any noise that left her lips. "Is Mukuro in his room?"

As soon as Nagi had said that he was most likely downstairs, I decided it was time to mess things up in their house for a bit. I smirked and she shot me a panicked expression as I waltzed into his room, dumping any objects that were on top of the desk onto the bed. Ten minutes later, and a panicking Nagi, still, I'd just about pushed the desk back into her room. The silencing look I shot her worked perfect and after that, it was back it its rightful place with her stuff upon it. We could hear footsteps not a few minutes after, and I could indentify them easily from over the years.

Nagi shot me a scared look as I pushed myself up to sit on the end of the desk. The door swung open as Mukuro asked, "Nagi have you seen—" He paused, blinking. "That's my desk."

"Nagi's desk," I corrected him, smirking.

"Oh, come on." He groaned, narrowing his eyes at me. "I'm sure Nagi told you that she _gave _me the desk, Kyouya. Was there really any need to steal it back?"

I stuck my nose up further in the air, crossing my arms. "I'm sure you bribed her."

"Sharing is caring." He laughed, though it surely wasn't from amusement. "We learnt that together when we were little, didn't we? I definitely have better grades than you."

"Oh, yes." I rolled my eyes. "Remembering useless information like that definitely means your grades are better."

The Rokudo household was oddly welcoming. Elena, of course, was happy to see that Mukuro had a relatively normal friend—if you could have even classed me as that—and didn't batter an eyelash when she saw that I went into Nagi's room first. Since their father was busy with work and therefore not home for dinner, I had been invited to stay with the offer of sleeping on the spare mattress within Mukuro's room. As welcoming as they were, I'd excused myself the past few nights and slept within the guest room within my own home, grabbing clothes from mine and Dino's room and then disappearing for school quickly.

I was forcing myself to focus on other things, and namely at that moment it was school. I let my pen draw an endless amount of loops in the margin, glancing up every now and then to see if I was missing anything important.

Dino was probably worried. I hadn't held a proper conversation with him—one that was more than greetings—for at least four days. My laptop still probably had a virus on it, and I was more than thankful that the starting screen required a password. If he had got up and left from anger and then proceeded to be home as little as possible for the next few days, I would have been offended. But Dino wasn't like me, so did he think I was just busy? I couldn't avoid him forever, and I certainly couldn't avoid my thoughts, too.

Online I was happy to receive a message from him, and in real life I couldn't wait for him to leave me alone. My reactions were completely different, but now I had to think properly. I normally pushed Dino away to type away either on my phone or on my laptop; technically, I was pushing him away to talk to him elsewhere. Would I do the same online now? My stomach felt uncomfortable at the thought. One hand gripped my thigh as I sat still, the other continuing to attempt to get rid of all the ink of my pen. I'd _almost_ considered Count Blonde as more than a friend, though I could never tell him that, and was certainly aware of how often my thoughts had turned to him.

I couldn't do that any more. I had to create a distance between us, as if weaning myself off of a drug, until it was a normal relationship. A normal and platonic relationship. Dino was my brother and that was all he was ever going to be, and I had to keep that thought in my mind at all times.

If we were ever going to have a normal relationship, that meant I could go and talk to him with an ulterior motive; or, rather, keep the ulterior motive to myself. I was just going to see whether I could look him in the eyes without feeling sick to my stomach from my behaviour. He was still oblivious and it was best that he remained like that forever. For as long as we were living in our home, he was never going to find out that I was Namibird.

As I walked down the hallway, my hand automatically reached into my pocket. I was avoiding Dino so, naturally, I'd been avoiding him online, too. My phone had been left in my room since the first night, it had probably ran out of battery by this point in time. Had Dino been worrying about Namibird as well as me, or was he only focusing on one? My eyebrows furrowed as my stomach felt uncomfortable again. It wasn't everyday that I felt the need to be jealous of myself.

No, I told myself, my feelings are completely platonic.

Of course there were some weird looks when I was walking down the corridor, peering into different classrooms. I'd never asked what class he was in, and he'd certainly never asked me the same question. And yet he'd been able to turn up at lunch to speak to me without any sort of information. When I looked into another class, my eyes latched onto him quickly; he was the only blonde within the room. Rather than walking straight into the room, I waited outside for him to venture out.

After most of his class had walked out to go wherever they usually do through lunch, I was becoming impatient. I tapped my feet on the floor waiting, glancing down at my twitching fingers. Was I making the right decision by being there to see him?

When there were finally footsteps beside me again, it wasn't who I was looking for. My head snapped up to whether it was Dino, and instead of meeting his brown irides, I met a pair of grey ones instead. I recognised the male; he was the one I often saw Dino walking with around the school, so his friend, it was.

"Oh, I know you," he announced, saying the shortened version of my thoughts. "Are you looking for Dino? He's going to be ecstatic."

"Wait," I muttered, stopping them from turning around and fetching him. "I'm not. Forget it."

It was a mystery whether luck was on my side or not. I'd started to walk away when I heard, "Ryouhei? I think I lost my phone."

I hated how the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up as soon as I'd heard him. It certainly wasn't a normal reaction and there was a chance that he wouldn't notice me if I just walked away. His friend didn't even know my name, I bet.

"Dude, you put it in your pencil case so the teacher wouldn't see it." Ryouhei chortled, clearly amused by Dino's memory. Without realising it, I'd slowed down my pace to hear his reaction.

"Oh, yeah." Dino laughed as well, though it sounded forced. "It was pointless in the end, I should have just paid attention."

"You might want to pay attention now, then," Ryouhei said grinning, no doubt grinning. "Someone came to see you."

I wasn't a coward.

It was fine if he noticed me. I had to wonder what his reaction would have been, though. "Really?" Dino asked, clearly surprised. I counted the moments passing by in my head before he called, "Kyouya!"

I was a coward.

"Kyouya, wait," he demanded, immediately reaching out and grasping my wrist. I bit down onto my lip before looking over my shoulder, noticing that his eyes were still wide with surprise. "Don't leave already."

"You didn't have to leave your friend," I muttered, snatching my wrist back from his grasp. "It's rude."

"You're more important than him." Dino grinned. Why on Earth was I _nervous_ about seeing him properly? I still was, and I was willing myself not to let it show. "Family comes before anything else, you should know that."

"Even if I do, I've never had to think about it before."

"I see," Dino murmured, "is that why you've been with your friends for the past few days?" Before I could reply, he started to ramble. "You were probably staying in for me, right? Wait, no, that makes me sound _really _arrogant." He ran his fingers through his hair, at a loss for words. "Thank you for staying in with me for a while, Kyouya."

"I didn't do it for you." He furrowed his eyebrows uncertainly. "I just didn't have a reason to go out before." As soon as I'd said that, I realised that it could have been taken the wrong way. "Before you even ask, we're just friends."

From how visibly relieved Dino looked, my lips curled into a frown. Was he just being protective? Of course he was, and I had to remember that. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know why."

He blinked before smiling softly. "Are you home for dinner today?"

"I don't think so." Nagi had asked me to help her, so I supposed that meant she was going to thank me with dinner; her usual way of showing her thanks. "Why?"

"It's lonely without you, you know," Dino announced, still smiling softly, although it was only a small curve of his lips.

"I've just been busy."

"I'm guessing you can't make time for me?" His smile became strained, and I was aware that we were still standing in the middle of a hallway. I shuffled back and leaned against a wall, not surprised that Dino joined me. "You don't like me as much as I thought you did."

"I'll be home," I proclaimed, biting down on my lip. Dino's reaction was to grin widely before wrapping his arms around my waist, his hair brushing my cheek. "Dino," I muttered in disapproval, trying hard to ignore that the tips of my ears were starting to burn. To any passer by—there had been a few, as we were still where anyone could see—it might have looked wrong, especially since no one knew that we were really related. "Dino, _don't_."

"It's just a hug," he replied happily, proceeding to embarrass me more by nuzzling his face against my hair. "It's not like we're kissing in broad daylight."

But that didn't mean I wasn't close to imagining doing that with a faceless him. "Maybe I don't want you to be hugging me."

"Well you used to resort to violence," Dino said smugly, most likely reminiscing. "You've clearly calmed down enough to be able to handle a hug now."

"If you don't want any bruises, get off of me now," I threatened him, irritation leaking into my tone. My demand had worked within seconds; something about my voice had caused him to listen to me, for once, and made it so he took a small step away from me. "Good."

"So do you want to help me cook tonight?" he asked, swiftly changing the topic. I raised my eyebrow at him and Dino simply shrugged, smiling softly once again.

"I want the food to be edible, so I have to."

Dino openly laughed, grinning widely, before he agreed with me. "Yeah, that's true." He chortled to himself. "See you later." And just like the time we'd spoken whilst walking to school, Dino kissed my forehead before leaving to rejoin his friend.

After passing Mukuro a note to give to Nagi once he was home I was still feeling guilty. I still had no idea what she had wanted help with, and after the last time I had ditched her for Dino, even though I hadn't realised it for awhile, I felt even worse. I reached for my phone as I sat on my bed and quickly typed her a message, saying that I'd be able to help her at any other time. Although I wasn't expecting an answer straight away, I was still staring down at my blank screen a few minutes later.

I'd been able to talk to Dino in real life properly, so I assumed I'd be just as fine online. I logged onto the instant messaging program on my phone—still irked that my laptop was unavailable for use—and bit down on my lip when I saw that he was online.

_Namibird: Hello._

Dino wasn't even home yet, so why was he on his phone?

_Count Blonde: Where the hell have you been, Nami? I've been trying to stay on all day in case you logged on! _

_Namibird: Am I not allowed to be offline? This is an awfully nice welcome back, by the way._

So he was worried. I'd only been offline for three days and he'd decided to stay on to see whether I came on at an odd time; the idea of him doing that had the corner of my lips twitching.

"Platonic," I reminded myself aloud.

_Count Blonde: You made me worried. Did I say something to offend you or anything? I couldn't send you any offline messages, by the way. That's why there was no spam waiting for you._

_Namibird: It sounds like you were lost without me. My Internet was down, that's all. I couldn't even get it on my phone for awhile._

_Conunt Blonde: Why don't you steal the connection from school? I know you can because I do. I still can't figure out who you are, Nami. Have you got any more clues to give me?_

Too many questions too fast. I managed to stare at the screen for a few minutes before shaking my head, telling myself that it was only natural that he was worried. Anyone would be if their friend disappeared without notice. It still didn't help that I was pretending to be a girl, but for him to not know, I had to keep it up. There weren't that many options left for me; if I came clean and said that I was, in fact, male then there was more of a chance of him finding out that it was me. I was just being cautious and stupid.

_Namibird: Don't you think I should be paying attention to class instead? You should have been, too. Why should I be giving you more clues? There's no reason for us to meet._

I sounded like a bitter child.

_Count Blonde: You're a good friend of mine, of course I want to meet you! Should I give you one, then? All right, I shall! _

My fingers were typing before I knew what I was doing.

_Namibird: I don't need you to. I have a pretty good idea about who you are._

I held my breath, waiting for his reply.

_Count Blonde: You do?_

_Namibird: I can count the natural blondes within our school on one hand._

Dinner that night was a disaster. Dino had tried to surprise me by sneaking inside of the house and started by himself. The only thing that gave him away was the smell of burning that came from downstairs whilst I was trying to read. He apologised profusely when I saved the meal by restarting from scratch and just letting him watch. He said that to make it up to me, he'd still get rid of the virus for me. And yet he hadn't asked why I'd stormed off, or anything at all regarding that time. I gnawed on the inside of my cheek when he mentioned it and made sure that I was hiding anything I didn't want him to see on my laptop—at least the best I could with it freezing up—before handing it over to him.

Ten minutes later I had a perfectly fine laptop and a smug brother, grinning from ear to ear.

All I wanted to say was thank you but what came out instead was, "The way you're smiling is disgusting."

"You're welcome." He continued to grin.

I decided that the best way I'd make it through each day with my sanity in tact was to think of Dino, online and offline, as two different people. The one I saw in front of me was one, whilst the idiot typing online—the one I was more fond of—was someone completely different. I just had to block out what I'd found out, and I was sure that I could to it. It would just take some practice.

_Count Blonde: Do you want to ask each other questions through the day? Thursday is my worst day at school, so it would be nice to keep myself distracted._

Ever since my phone had made a reappearance, Mukuro was shooting me odd looks at any moment possible. It hadn't been so bad the day before, but that could have been because I was distracted with _Count Blonde _being ridiculous and complaining about what was happening in his classes. I hadn't revealed any information about mine and simply chose to mock him. I'd made it home before Dino could attempt to make dinner again, instead helping our mother instead.

"Made up with your boyfriend, then?" Mukuro asked, leaning forward to rest his chin on his palm. He'd raised his eyebrows mockingly.

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're attached to your phone again, Kyouya," he pointed out, grinning like a crocodile. "So Nagi and I are unimportant to you now, are we not?"

"When were you ever important?" I snorted to cover the fact that he'd practically hit the nail on the head. "In case you didn't notice I was with Nagi more than you. It's always going to be that way."

_Namibird: Go for it. I'm assuming you ask one and then I ask after I've answered? Don't you dare ask my name, though. I'll hunt you down and hurt you._

"You shouldn't play favourites, you know." He smirked, even though his eyes had widened slightly. When we were younger we did spend more time together, although our meetings usually involved some sort of fighting. I hadn't fought him in a long time, not since we'd meet acquainted with Nagi. "It hurts my feelings."

"Feelings? You have none." I shot him an incredulous look. "You always barge into her room with some ridiculous reason, anyway. Why don't you just admit that you want to talk to me?"

"Annoying you is what I do." He hummed. "That's how I make it through my day."

_Count Blonde: Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not that stupid, I still want to find you by myself. What's your favourite subject?_

"Is it?" I murmured, tapping away whilst leaning back on my chair. "So hacking into my accounts get you through, too? That's what you've been doing for most of this year." He hadn't done it for a few weeks, though, not since he'd been introduced to Dino on an instant messenger. Had they been talking to each other often? I hadn't bothered to ask, much less bring the topic up around Mukuro as I knew he'd start to bug me about it. I bit down on my lip, shooting the male beside me a dirty look.

_Namibird: Maths. Do you still talk to Pineapple?_

"It's too bad I agreed not to hack into them any more." Mukuro pushed his lower lip out, pretending to be sad. "You've blocked me everywhere so I can't speak to you, too. Where am I supposed to get my entertainment from now?" he droned on, obviously frustrated. "I've been dying lately."

"Get a hobby," I snapped.

_Count Blonde: Only a bad friend would continue to talk to them, right? So don't worry, I don't. What classes have you failed before?_

_Namibird: Gym and music. Do you miss your old school?_

Do you miss your old life? I corrected myself within my thoughts. He wouldn't be able to read through the lines and answer that question; I'd have to ask Dino directly, when I could see his face, if he was ever going to read between the lines. Did he regret moving here and meeting me? He was always reassuring me that he wanted to be here, sometimes subtly and sometimes through his actions, but I didn't know whether to believe it. As of late he had been relying on touch to get his point across, and his actions were slowly becoming more than I could handle. The embraces were one thing, but with his kissing my forehead whenever he could, I had to wonder how he was raised.

_Count Blonde: I don't. I'm only in contact with one or two friends from back then, and now I get to me with my brother, my parents, and I was able to meet you through this. Would you be freaked out if I said you're my best friend? I really do look forward to talking to you._

"Well, there goes your opportunity to copy my homework for next week." Mukuro stuck his nose further up into the air, frowning in mock offence whilst I willed myself to get rid of the rising heat on my face. "You'll be too busy with your boyfriend to do anything. Your online _and _offline boyfriend, that is."

"It's taken you this long to announce that you think I'm cheating?" I sneered.

Throwing his head back to laugh, Mukuro was smirking widely when he finally looked me in the eyes. "So you are dating one of them."

"I'll leave being a whore to you." I shot him a glare. "No, I am not dating anyone, thank you. I wouldn't."

"You're not dating?" He raised an eyebrow, the arch seeming to be innocent. "Then who is Dino to you, and that guy that you've been messaging lately?"

I could hardly say they were the same person, let alone that they slept in the same room as me. "...Friends?" My answer came out more as a question making me want to grimace. Of course I was hesitant about announcing it aloud; as soon as the one I was claiming to be my friend found out who I was, our relationship would change completely.

"You haven't lost your temper with them yet, then?" Mukuro blinked.

_Namibird: I'm sure you're closer to someone other than me. We only speak sometimes, too, so don't get ahead of yourself. Were you lying when you said about... your sexual orientation?_

Looking up from my phone, I kept a blank face as I proclaimed, "They aren't like you."

Placing a handful of seeds into Hibird's food bowl, I gnawed on my lower lip. I hadn't looked back to see whether I'd received a reply or not ever since I'd been talking to Mukuro. It could have been since I was anxious to see what the answer was or that I had crossed the line. He hadn't mentioned about the time he thought I was attracted to girls ever again, and yet there I was bringing up just a small comment he'd made.

"Screw it," I muttered, reaching into my pocket.

_Count Blonde: Oh, don't be like that now. I wasn't lying but that doesn't mean I'll be a very good gay best friend. I won't watch musicals with you or tell you whether your outfit looks okay. Sorry, Nami, but that's just a bit weird. How did it go with that girl who said she loved you?_

The front door opened and from the taps on the floor, it was Mother wearing her heels. "Hey, Kyouya," she greeted me as she reached into the fridge for a bottle of water. I nodded in greeting, my lip twitching in amusement as she searched for the band within her hair and pulled it out as quickly as possible. Messing her hair up with her fingertips, she sighed in relief. "That's better."

It was rare that she was home that early. I'd probably only just walked through the door when the car had pulled up on the driveway. "Welcome home."

"Thank you." I wasn't able to get a word in before her phone started to ring. "Hello?"

I tuned out whatever she was talking about, choosing to lean against the counter and reply to Count Blonde before making my way upstairs. I gnawed on my lower lip—a habit that I surely needed to break before there was any permanent damage left—and debated whether to be honest or not. Haru hadn't told him about the accidental confession, had she? If I were her I would've kept the slip up to my grave. She wouldn't have gone spouting all of the embarrassing things she had done, right? The only other person, that I knew of, that knew about it was that Kyouko girl. Maybe I needed to hunt her down.

_Namibird: I wasn't going to ask you to watch a musical with me. You mean the girl that made you assume that I was lesbian? No, nothing has happened. Nothing will ever happen. I'm perfectly straight and I'm not even friends with her. Are you interested in anyone since you've moved?_

The message had been sent before I could take it back. I was just causing my stomach to feel uncomfortable; I was _sick, _purposely rubbing the fact that we were crossing the line in. My ears were burning in embarrassment as I covered my mouth with my hand, resisting the urge to groan at myself. Dino would be back at any moment soon—was I supposed to be able to look in his eyes without any guilt? Not only was I deceiving him, I was delving for information just to appease myself.

"Kyouya," Mother called when I was just about to walk up the stairs. I leaned over the banister, raising an eyebrow. "Dino's bringing a friend home so be nice, okay?"

I nodded, trying to hide my outraged expression. We'd discussed that we were going to keep us being related a secret, and yet he had the nerve to bring someone home. Unless it was Haru, who I doubted it was, then it meant I had to try and stay away from them or attempt to convince his friend that I was a family friend.

"That idiot," I murmured, perching myself on the end of my bed.

Rather than waiting around anxiously for Dino to come home with his friend, I sat with my back against the wall and loaded up a online game on my laptop. I'd missed out a couple of days of actions, and events, so I decided to focus on catching up so I wasn't behind when Dino finally logged on later, too. When I was trying to concentrate and heard the door opening instead, I reached into the desk drawer to reveal a pair of earphones, placing them in my ears and loading my music folder. As much of an idiot that Dino was, he surely couldn't have been stupid enough to lead his friend straight into our room.

As I shuffled to get comfy, the device digging into my thigh reminded me of what I was doing. I exited the game and shoved the laptop to the side, slowly illuminating the screen of the phone to see his reply. I tried to ignore how knots were being created within my stomach.

_Count Blonde: Shit, really? I'm so sorry I jumped to that conclusion. I should have asked you a bit more carefully about your orientation. Sorry, Nami, I hope I haven't offended you. I'm focusing more on family than romance right now, actually. Do you have your eyes on anyone?_

_Namibird: You are an idiot but I wasn't expecting anything else. I don't. Haven't I already told you that I'm mostly alone? Do you still want to meet me?_

There were noises come from downstairs; not the normal hushed voices, but a loud one that I could only just make it. The words were jumbled up so they weren't coherent, but the voice was certainly not Dino's. His friend was still downstairs, apparently, and I'd had just about enough. I walked stealthily onto the stairs, peering over the banister to see who was there. Their attention was on the television rather than behind them, meaning they wouldn't notice me.

"Man, most of these films I have in my house. My sister loves these genres," his friend announced, squatting down in front of a shelf. I recognised him instantly; he was the one I'd ran into whilst waiting for Dino to come out of his classroom "Especially this one." He held up a case.

"Haven't seen it," Dino replied, laughing. "I don't even know where most of these films have come from. Half are horror whilst the other are romance!"

"Oh, you forgot the musicals." Ryouhei chortled loudly. "There's quite a few here. I can sing along to most of them, Kyouko's a sucker for anything with a sing-a-long in it."

"Please, no," Dino cried out, taking a couple of steps back and falling onto the sofa. "My ex-girlfriend used to force me to watch those with her. I _never _want to see another film where teenagers burst into song for no reason again."

As I froze I could feel my expression transform into a negative expression. Ex-girlfriend? I thought bitterly. He'd said that he was absolutely sure that he was gay, so why on Earth was he talking about having a relationship with a girl? Was he just lying to me online—making sure that _I _wouldn't think of him in that way? If Dino had thought that faking his orientation was the easy way out, it certainly wasn't. There were many other details that he could have been lying about, many that he probably wouldn't admit to my face. Would I be able to coax them out of him as me or as Nami?

Who did he prefer or trust more?

Ryouhei laughing caught my attention. "I can tell she was a keeper."

"Oh, definitely." From his tone it was obvious that Dino had rolled his eyes. "I'll be back in a minute. I'm going to get a drink; do you want anything?"

"No, thanks, I'm still dying on the inside from that protein shake."

Dino made his way into the kitchen and I swiftly followed after him, careful not to attract his friends attention. He was reaching for a bottle of water while I opened the back door, grabbing onto his wrist and dragging him outside and closing the door behind me. His expression was bewildered as he looked at me, blinking.

"What the Hell, Kyouya?" he spluttered, still shocked. "If you wanted to speak to me you could have been less of a ninja than that. I didn't even hear you come downstairs."

That was because he was too busy talking about his ex-girlfriend. "I thought we weren't going to tell anyone that we're related?"

"Ryouhei doesn't even know you're here yet," he pointed out, tapping his index finger against my nose. I took a step back and narrowed my eyes at him, causing Dino to roll his eyes. "He forgot his key so I was kind enough to invite him over. Is there a problem with that?"

"Well, yes." I scowled. "This is my home, too. I don't want idiots coming over as they please."

"Really, you're insulting my friend now?" He sighed, grimacing as he realised that his feet were getting wet from not wearing any shoes. Mine were, too, but I didn't let it show on my expression. "I get it, you're angry, but I can't just send him away."

"Can't you just think of some reason for him to disappear?"

Dino frowned. "I wouldn't ask you to send your friend away if they were here. Actually, I'd probably introduce myself and be nice to them. Would it kill you to be pleasant to someone?"

"There are differences between us, Dino," I hissed, "I'm _not_ like you. I wasn't raised that way."

He sighed, walking past me and purposely not looking over his shoulder as he said, "Clearly we're very different people, then."

"Yeah, we are," I muttered when he was gone, "I can't treat you how you treat me."

After making sure that I was calm again and wasn't going to make a fool of myself, I trudged back into the kitchen and threw my dirty socks into a laundry basket. Just as I was about to turn the corner and go upstairs when I heard Ryouhei shout, "Hibari!"

If that wasn't an invitation, I didn't know what was. I looked over my shoulder to see him grinning at me, Dino looking sheepish beside him.

"Why didn't you two tell me sooner?" he questioned, practically shouting. "I was sure that there was something going on between you both, but now I know." Ryouhei chortled, raising a fist into the air from finally knowing.

I looked over at Dino. "You told him." It wasn't a question, and yet Dino still bit down on his lip to stall for time.

"Now I can give you brotherly advice, my friend." Ryouhei grinned, placing his arm around Dino's shoulder.

Dino didn't say anything to that, nor to what I had said either. I narrowed my eyes at him before walking away, curling one of my hands into a fist at his behaviour. He lied and didn't keep secrets—in the end, what side of him could I trust? The endearing brother or the idiot side of him online that was a polar opposite?

_Count Blonde: I'm not willing to believe that you don't have friends. Of course I want to meet you, Nami. You're my best friend. I look forward to seeing your reactions in real life. It's only a matter of time before we find each other, you know. And what do you think of lies, no matter how small they are?_

**AN: **It seems this story only gets updated every two months, huh? This chapter was a hard one to write considering all of Kyouya's confusing, guilt and any other emotion he's feeling. Hopefully it's obvious that towards the end of the chapter he realises that he can't see Dino as a brother at all, but that doesn't mean he's going to allow him to be a romantic interest. So things are spicing up! No, Dino does _not _know that Kyouya is Nami. This story isn't going to be one where all is forgiven, they fuck and move on and forget that difficulties. No, Dino is _not _adopted. They really are related. No, Nagi does _not _have any romantic interest in Kyouya. No, nor does Mukuro. No, no, Haru has given up, she's not as sick as the main characters.

I've got a laptop again so updates are not typed up on my phone any more! I still need a beta, no one likes me enough to read my chapters beforehand, and I have to point out that it's four o'clock in the morning now.


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